


Sonic and the Master of Chaos 2

by SquirreLJ



Series: Sonic and the Master of Chaos [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 19:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 41,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18784819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquirreLJ/pseuds/SquirreLJ
Summary: This is the sequel to Sonic and the Master of Chaos. Sonic, Shadow, and Amy, are each searching for different things, but when their separate quests are pulled together by fate, the heroes are swept into epic battles against Dr. Eggman and his machines.





	1. Eggman Returns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KaptainKovee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaptainKovee/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Super Mario Bros. Z](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/492838) by Alvin-Earthworm. 
  * Inspired by [Sonic: Nazo Unleashed](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/492841) by Chakra-X. 



Fast, that is the adjective to describe Sonic the Hedgehog. Some call him "the blue blur" because that is all they see as he runs past them. Speed is his way of life. Adventure is his true love. That's how this story begins: adventure.

Just a week earlier, Sonic and his friends had defeated a horrible monster of darkness known as Saturn the Hedgehog. Saturn had stolen the mystic jewels known as the Chaos Emeralds and used them to become Infinite Saturn and increase his power to a level of infinity, but he was defeated by Sonic when the Emeralds' positive energy rejected his evil heart and destroyed him.

During the incident with Saturn, the world believed Sonic's nemesis, Dr. Eggman, to be dead, but in reality, Eggman was hiding out in a secret bunker underneath Metropolis's clock tower until the situation subsided. When Saturn was killed, Sonic and his friends investigated the bunker, but every trace of Eggman was gone. Sonic was now with his best friend, Tails, searching for leads on Eggman's whereabouts, but that did not stop Sonic from taking some time off.

Now, everything seemed well. For the first time in a while, Sonic was relaxing. He sat quietly in a park in Central City with a plate of three chilidogs in his right hand. He consumed one; then he licked the residue off of his white-gloved fingers.

Just as Sonic was about to eat his next chilidog, Tails arrived on the scene carrying a small suitcase. "Sonic!" the young fox exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

Sonic ate the chilidog. He responded to Tails with his mouth full, "Isn't it obvious? I'm eating chilidogs. What are you doing?"

Tails answered, "I'm wondering why you're slacking off when we're supposed to be finding Dr. Eggman. The longer it takes, the more time he'll have to plot his next scheme."

Sonic consumed his final chilidog. "It doesn't matter. Eggman's plans never work. Besides, I've got the Chaos Emeralds now, remember? I can become Super Sonic whenever I want. None of his robots have ever been able to beat Super Sonic. Nobody has."

Tails said, "That doesn't give us an excuse to get cocky. Who knows what Eggman's got up his sleeve this time around?"

Sonic finished licking the chili sauce off of his fingers. "Who cares? We'll just find Eggman and stop him like we always do." Sonic smiled and gave Tails a thumbs-up.

Tails sighed, "Do you even remember why we're in Central City?"

Sonic said, "Of course I remember. Those snobs at G.U.N. have their headquarters here. We're here to check if they can help us with the whole finding Eggman thing, right?"

Tails said, "That's right, and while you were eating chilidogs, I was at G.U.N. headquarters asking if they knew anything about Eggman since he disappeared."

Sonic smiled, "See, Tails? I knew I could take some time to myself and my chilidogs with you on the job. That's why we make such a great team! So what did G.U.N. have to say?"

Tails answered, "Well, they suspect Eggman is north of South Island."

Sonic asked, "Really, what makes them think that?"

Tails held up a newspaper titled, "Dr. Eggman & Robots Seen Alive North of South Island!" The newspaper's cover page showed a picture of Eggman in his Egg Mobile surrounded by a small army of Egg Pawns on top of a gigantic, narwhal-shaped aircraft.

Sonic tossed his plate aside. "Ah, that would do it. Well, I guess we know what we're doing for at least the next day or so. C'mon, we're heading north!"

Tails hesitated. "Um, Sonic, there's kind of one more thing."

Sonic looked at Tails. "Yeah, Tails, what is it?"

Tails said, "Well, G.U.N. decided to send someone with us to help foil Eggman."

Sonic looked confused. "So who are they sending?"

Just then, part-time secret agent Rouge the Bat flew down from a tree in the park. She landed right next to Sonic and said, "Me."

Tails added, "Her."

Rouge continued teasingly, "I'll be tagging along to make sure you boys don't get hurt out there. The Commander of G.U.N. chose me for this assignment personally."

Sonic sighed, "Fine, I guess we can take Rouge with us. At least it's a friend of ours instead of some boring agent."

Rouge chuckled, "I'll be happy to accompany you."

Tails said, "Okay, guys follow me!"

Tails started walking away from Rouge and Sonic. Sonic asked, "Where are you going?"

Tails looked back at Sonic. "Don't you remember? I have a workshop here in Central City."

Sonic said, "Oh yeah, let's go then! C'mon, Rouge!"

Rouge followed the blue hedgehog down the streets of Central City until they arrived at a small workshop with a closed garage door. Tails typed a code into a keypad on the wall, and the door opened. Inside, there was a large machine covered by a dusty, white blanket. Tails lifted the blanket from the machine, revealing Tails's red biplane, the Tornado. Tails grinned with pride. "We'll use this to take out Eggman's airship."


	2. Shadow's Dream

Powerful, that is the adjective to describe Shadow the Hedgehog. He is known as the ultimate life-form because he is just that. He is an artificial hedgehog who was created by a mad scientist named Prof. Gerald Robotnik over fifty years ago. He is ageless, and he is one of a kind, but his design is not unique.

Shadow had a younger brother named Saturn the Hedgehog, a second ultimate life-form that was designed by Prof. Gerald Robotnik as his last, unfinished project. Saturn was completed and created by Prof. Robotnik's grandson, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. Since Saturn was designed to harness the power of the seven mystic Chaos Emeralds and amplify them to a level of infinity, Eggman had hoped to use Saturn to conquer the world. However, Saturn betrayed Eggman and tried to take the world for himself. If Shadow and the other heroes had not intervened, Saturn may have done just that.

A week had passed since Saturn's death, but Shadow could still feel his dark presence haunting the air around him. At least it felt like Saturn's presence. Shadow was not entirely sure what was causing this horrible feeling in the air around him, but he knew it was somehow connected to Saturn because he had been feeling it ever since Saturn's death.

The feeling grew stronger day after day. Now, it refused to give Shadow any respite, even in his sleep. Shadow was in a pure white room, so white that it was impossible to tell where the floor became the walls and where the walls became the ceiling. It appeared to be an endless, white universe, and although he could not see a definite floor, Shadow could feel solidity beneath his feet. He did not like this place. It felt unstable and insecure. It was blank, empty, and purposeless. This place was everything Shadow did not want to be.

"Do you like it?" a voice echoed. Shadow was slightly startled. The voice sounded familiar, yet he could not recognize it. "This is your heart."

Shadow looked around in search of his unwelcome guest. "Who are you? Show yourself!" he demanded.

The voice cackled, "Ha-ha-ha, you're still so arrogant, aren't you, Shadow?"

Shadow clenched his fist. "Don't make me ask again."

The voice chuckled again, "Alright, just calm down. There's no need to get so worked up. I'm only a messenger."

"Then give me your message already!" Shadow demanded.

The voice answered, "I see you're as impatient as ever. Fine, I'll cut to the chase. There's something coming, Shadow, something more powerful than even you. It wants to erase you from the face of existence, and as of now, you don't stand a chance."

Shadow answered the voice sarcastically, "Thanks, you just made my day."

The voice kept going, "C'mon, Shadow. Surely you've noticed it by now, that dark feeling creeping through the air around you."

Shadow's eyes widened for a moment. "Go on."

"It's coming for you, Shadow. There's only one way you can fight it. You must gather the seven Chaos Emeralds. With their power, you can become Super Shadow and fight this threat. That's the only way you'll stand a—" the voice gave another chuckle "—shadow of a chance."

Shadow was not amused. "You're telling me I have to gather the Chaos Emeralds. Well that's certainly a cliché. Why should I trust you?"

The voice cackled again, "You don't really have a choice at this point. You can trust me and gather the Emeralds, or you can be unprepared for the impending threat and be erased forever."

Shadow responded, "I'm not saying that I'll do what you want, but if I did, where would I find the Chaos Emeralds?"

The voice laughed maniacally now, "How should I know? I'm just a dark voice in the back of your head, Shadow!" The laughing echoed loudly across the room. It grew louder and louder each second until Shadow's ears began ringing from the noise.

Shadow awoke with a gasp. He had been sleeping in a comfortable patch of grass by a mountainside. He eyed the rising sun on the horizon. He wondered aloud, "Great, now I've got voices in my head talking to me in my dreams." Shadow sighed. "Where am I even going to find the Chaos Emeralds? I've been trying to track Sonic ever since he ran off with them after the fight with Saturn, but that blasted faker doesn't sit still long enough for me to get a hold on his location."

A newspaper blew by in the wind. Shadow grabbed it and read the title on the front page. It said, "Dr. Eggman & Robots Seen Alive North of South Island!"

Shadow continued to think out loud, "Dr. Eggman, huh? It looks like he must have another evil scheme," Shadow smiled and reached a realization, "and when Eggman has an evil scheme, Sonic is always there to save the day, and Sonic still has the Chaos Emeralds." Shadow crumpled up the newspaper and threw it back to the wind. "Perfect."


	3. Amy's Search

Loving, that is the adjective to describe Amy Rose. She has been called "Rosy the Rascal" because of her rascality when it comes to tracking her one true love, Sonic the Hedgehog. Although Sonic commonly ran from her affections, Amy was relentless. She would follow Sonic to the ends of the Earth, and this very attitude got her involved in more than a few of Sonic's many adventures.

At the time, Amy was following her most recent piece of information involving Sonic's whereabouts. Apparently, Sonic had last been spotted by a roadside chilidog vendor in Central City. Amy was not surprised. She knew that chilidogs were Sonic's favorite food. Amy was now at a park in Central City. She figured that if Sonic was eating chilidogs, he was probably taking time off, and the park was the only place in Central City where one could relax amidst the city's hustle and bustle. However, knowing Sonic, Amy also deduced that Sonic was probably long gone from here by now, but there still might be some people here who had seen him or overheard a conversation about where he was going next. Amy was wandering around the park and asking random civilians if they had seen Sonic. There was no need to describe the blue hedgehog since he was a worldwide hero. Nevertheless, Amy was currently unable to find anyone who had seen Sonic.

After her search for clues resulted in another dead end, Amy sat down on a park bench. She placed her hands on her cheeks and rested her elbows on her knees as she sighed. "I know Sonic was here, but there's no trace of where he went next. I can't lose his trail now."

A familiar voice spoke, "Amy?" Amy looked to her left. There was someone sitting on the bench next to her. In her state of mild depression from her recent failure, Amy did not notice this person until he spoke. The person called happily, "Amy!" and gave the pink hedgehog a big, fuzzy hug. It was Big the Cat, one of Amy's good friends. Big released Amy from his hug. "I'm so glad to see you, Amy! I haven't seen a familiar face in a while! How is Cream doing?" Cream the Rabbit was Amy's best friend and another friend of Big.

Amy smiled at the face of her old friend. "Hi, Big! Last time I saw Cream, she was at her mom's vacation home in Metropolis. That was about a week ago, but I'd assume that she's doing fine. How have you been, Big? What are you doing in Central City?"

Big answered, "I've been awfully lonely, Amy. My friend Froggy was kidnapped by one of Eggman's robots about a week ago, and I haven't seen a friendly face since," Big paused a moment before adding, "until now!" Big gave Amy another hug.

Amy chuckled, "Wow, Big, you've had quite an experience. I'm guessing that you're in Central City looking for your pet Froggy, but why are you looking here, and why did Eggman's robot kidnap him in the first place?"

Big released Amy from his enormous hug. The purple tabby looked at Amy with a certain degree of despair in his kind eyes. "I don't know why they kidnapped him. They wouldn't tell me, but they did say that he was 'a central part of their plan,' so I decided to come looking for him in Central City." Big smiled with pride in his intelligence, but Amy just blinked at the lovable cat's sincere attempt at logic.

Amy decided to be nice to her old friend in spite of his slightly lacking intellect. "That's brilliant, Big! I'm here looking for my Sonic. He ran off again after he destroyed another monster about a week ago."

Big laughed, "That silly Sonic is always on the run."

Suddenly, Amy's Sonic senses began tingling. She overheard his name being spoken by two teenage boys passing by. Amy leaped from the bench and confronted the duo. "You two! You mentioned Sonic the Hedgehog just now, didn't you? What did you say?" The teens were slightly intimidated at first, so they did not immediately answer. Amy's anger grew. "Tell me now!"

One of the boys stuttered as he said, "W-We were just l-looking at this newspaper article about Dr. Eggman. Apparently he's alive! We were thinking that, maybe, you know, Sonic would show up and stop him like he always does."

Amy looked at a newspaper being held by the other boy. "Give me that!" She snatched the paper, and the teenagers ran off.

The newspaper headline read, "Dr. Eggman & Robots Seen Alive North of South Island!"

Big approached his young friend. "What is it, Amy?"

Amy answered, "Dr. Eggman is north of South Island with an airship and a small army of his robot pawns. I know my Sonic is on his way there right now, so I'm going there too!"

Big said, "Eggman! He has Froggy! I'm coming with you, Amy! I need to rescue Froggy!"

Amy said, "Alright, Big, let's go!"


	4. Raiding the Airship

Dr. Eggman stood proudly on top of the head of his newest airship, the Egg Narwhal. One of his robotic assistants, Cubot, was hovering next to him. Cubot was a small, yellow robot with a cube-shaped head. Cubot spoke with an exaggerated accent, "So just how long are y'all plannin' on keepin' this big ol' hunk of airship anchored north of that yonder island?"

Dr. Eggman answered, "This area is completely abandoned. The entire airship is hidden behind the mountains on the coast of South Island. No one will find us. It's the perfect spot to wait in secrecy until my newest machine is complete."

Cubot spoke again, "So I reckon that we're just a-gonna stay parked right up here 'til that there machine o' yers is done crankin', is that 'bout right?"

Dr. Eggman nodded, "That's right, Cubot, and how on Earth did you get that infernal cowboy voice chip again?"

Cubot answered, "I done lost my ol' voice chip back when my partner Orbot 'n' I were fiddlin' with that new machine like ya asked us to. Orbot tried to get the old chip back in me, but it wudn't no good. The chip was done broke, so he just shoved this ol' cowboy voice chip back in my throat."

Dr. Eggman sighed and put his hand over his eyes in irritation. Just then, Dr. Eggman's other assistant robot, Orbot, hovered toward Eggman in a frantic haste. Orbot was a red robot with an orb-shaped head who spoke in a proper accent like an Englishman. "Sir!" Orbot shouted at Eggman, "There's a big problem off the port bow! It's a code—a code—!"

Orbot was interrupted by Dr. Eggman before he could finish. "What is it? Is it a code red, a code green, or maybe a code yellow?"

Orbot screamed, "It's a code blue!"

Cubot and Dr. Eggman screamed in panic. Cubot hovered around frantically in random directions until he crashed into the railings surrounding the airship's balcony. Dr. Eggman said, "Let me see!"

Orbot popped out one of his mechanical eyes and extended it into a telescope. He handed the telescope to Dr. Eggman, and Eggman peered through it. Eggman gasped when he saw a red biplane off the port bow. The biplane's pilot was none other than Tails Prower, and Rouge the Bat sat casually on the upper-left wing of the plane, but that's not what caused panic. On the top right wing of the biplane stood Eggman's archenemy, Sonic the Hedgehog. Eggman screamed in panic again, "We're not ready! The machine isn't finished! How did he find us?"

Orbot held up a newspaper titled, "Dr. Eggman & Robots Seen Alive North of South Island!"

Eggman yelled, "How in blazes did that get in the paper? Ah! It doesn't matter now!" The mad doctor grabbed Orbot's shoulders. "Fire at him!"

Orbot hesitated, "Um, right away, Sir, but what exactly do you want me to fire?"

Eggman shook Orbot by the shoulders and shouted, "Everything!"

Orbot was freed from Eggman's grip, but his head was still shaking. Orbot grabbed his head to hold it in place, and then he saluted his master. "Yes, I will give the order now, Sir!" Orbot hovered over to Cubot and hit his yellow friend on the back of the head. Suddenly, Cubot's voice became a loud alarm that could be heard all over the Egg Narwhal. Orbot shouted, "Attention all Egg Pawns! We have a code blue! Fire all weapons at the Tornado!"

All of Eggman's orange, robotic infantry began to mobilize. They armed the numerous portside weapons, which included machineguns, cannons, and missile launchers. Tails noticed the airship's guns, and he warned Sonic and Rouge, "Things are about to get a little bumpy!"

Rouge chuckled, "Pull up. This is my stop."

Tails pulled the steering mechanism on the biplane, and it pointed upward and began its rapid ascent. Tails had to maneuver the Tornado from side to side in order to dodge Eggman's various ammunitions, but since the biplane was a good distance from the airship, evasion was not a difficult task, especially for someone as experienced as Tails.

Soon, the Tornado was far above the Egg Narwhal, and Rouge jumped from her seat on the left wing. Rouge used her wings to fly toward the airship, and Tails steered the Tornado in a different direction to draw the Egg Narwhal's fire away from her.

Eggman became frustrated with the apparent uselessness of his weaponry. The mad scientist shouted, "Why aren't they firing the target seeking missiles?"

Orbot said, "I don't know, Sir. Oh, wait. Look! They're arming the missiles now!" It was true. A group of Egg Pawns were loading Dr. Eggman's special target-seeking missiles.

Three missiles were fired at the red biplane. Tails steered away from the missiles, but they followed the Tornado's location using special tracking technology. Tails pulled hard upward and tried to loop his plane behind the missiles, but they simply imitated the Tornado's loop and continued to follow behind the biplane. Tails continued to swerve the plane in order to dodge the other gunfire, but the missiles were relentless. Luckily, a stray bullet from one of Eggman's machineguns connected with one of the three missiles, and it exploded.

Sonic shouted, "Yeah, we're kicking butt, Tails!"

Tails said, "Don't celebrate yet, Sonic. Those other two missiles are closing in fast!" Sonic looked behind to see that the pair of missiles was getting closer to the Tornado every second. Tails yelled, "We need to do something fast, or we're done for!"

Sonic screamed enthusiastically, "Do a barrel roll!"

Tails steered the Tornado hard to the left, and the plane spun sideways. The missiles harmlessly passed the biplane as they tried to imitate its swirling motion. As the missiles spun, they got closer together until they connected with one another and detonated in front of the Tornado's path. Tails steered his red biplane away from the resulting explosion and continued to fly above the Egg Narwhal again. Tails warned Sonic, "This is going to be a rough landing!"

Tails steered the Tornado downwards toward the Egg Narwhal's back, where there was a long path somewhat reminiscent of a runway. The landing was indeed rough, but Tails managed to park the Tornado on top of Eggman's giant airship.

Meanwhile, Eggman scolded Orbot, "Do you know what just happened? Sonic just landed on my airship! If he is allowed to run free, my plans are ruined! Stop him!"

Orbot asked, "Um, Sir, how exactly am I supposed to do that? None of your Egg Pawns stand a chance, and Cubot and I aren't programmed for advanced combat!"

Eggman said, "Send in the Metals. It might take some time for them to get ready, so have the Egg Pawns keep Sonic busy until they arrive. In the meantime, I'm going to the lab to put the finishing touches on my machine manually. It must be finished soon, or Sonic will end up destroying it. Now go!" Orbot did as ordered. Sonic had a battle coming his way.


	5. Shadow Joins the Party

Shadow arrived at the northern coast of South Island. He saw a large airship in the sky past a group of coastal mountains, but the airship had an anchor in the water holding it in place. He could see a red biplane in the air dodging gunfire coming from the airship's portside weapons. Shadow mumbled to himself, "Sonic's already here, good."

Shadow used his hover shoes to skate across the top of the ocean water toward the chain which led from the airship to its anchor. Shadow reached the chain and began to climb it. It took him some time to climb all the way up to the airship, but he was determined, and he eventually reached it.

There was a small opening in the starboard side of the ship from which the anchor hung. Shadow used this opening to infiltrate the airship. The black hero found himself in a room with a metal ceiling, a metal wall, and metal floors. The room was occupied by a lone, sleeping Egg Pawn who was probably supposed to be monitoring the anchor. Shadow's entrance woke the orange infantry. It grabbed a laser gun from a holster on its hip, and it pointed the gun at Shadow. Shadow jumped in the air and curled into a ball. He locked onto the Egg Pawn's location, and he rocketed himself toward the robot midair. The Egg Pawn had no time to fire his weapon before Shadow's attack tore a hole straight through its chest. Shadow uncurled himself and walked over to the destroyed robot. He grabbed its laser gun and left the room.

Shadow was now in a metal hallway. Apparently Eggman was not much of an interior decorator. Shadow's mind began working. This airship was too big for the Tornado to take down from the outside, so that meant that either Sonic would have to jump off of the Tornado and infiltrate the airship by himself, or Tails would have to land the Tornado somewhere. Either way, Sonic would have to be somewhere near the top of this flying scrap heap.

Shadow rushed down the hall in search of an elevator or staircase. Instead, he found a door at the end of the hallway. He opened the door to find a room loaded with Egg Pawns, all of whom looked at Shadow when he opened the door. Shadow said, "Oh crap."

Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman was in his airship's laboratory. He was putting the finishing touches on his machine, and things were going smoothly. Cubot approached the mad doctor and said, "Um, beggin' yer pardon, Sir, but we seem to be havin' some problems."

Dr. Eggman took a break from soldering two wires together, and he looked at Cubot. "What kind of problems, exactly?"

Cubot scratched his mechanical head. "Well, Orbot went to get the Metals like ya asked, but they ain't too keen on fightin'."

Eggman shouted, "What do you mean 'they ain't too keen'? They're killing machines! They've been programmed to fight when I tell them to!"

Cubot responded, "That's what I done said to Orbot when he told me, but apparently yer newest Metal is stuck on not fightin' nobody but Shadow, so he ain't goin' after Sonic 'n' Tails."

Eggman said, "Darn that new model! Well, just send in the old Metal then. That should at least buy me enough time to finish my machine." Eggman continued to solder the wires of his machine.

Cubot answered, "Yes, Sir, but that there ain't the only piece o' bad news I got fer ya." Eggman turned off his blowtorch again. Cubot continued, "Ya see, according to our scanners, Sonic 'n' that little fella ain't the only intruders. There's two more o' them rascals; Shadow and that thief from G.U.N. are here too."

Eggman said, "Wait a minute. You just said that my new Metal refused to fight anyone but Shadow. Am I correct?"

Cubot nodded, "I reckon ya are."

Eggman continued, "And now you're telling me that Shadow is on this aircraft."

Cubot nodded again, "That's right."

Eggman slapped Cubot on the face, and Cubot's head spun in circles. Eggman scolded the yellow robot, "You blithering idiot, send the new Metal after Shadow!"

When Cubot's head stopped spinning, he saluted his creator, "Yes, Sir, I reckon I'll be doin' that right about now!" Cubot hovered out of the laboratory.

Meanwhile, Shadow was beginning to have difficulty fighting the swarm of Egg Pawns he had accidentally encountered. He used his recently-acquired laser gun to shoot several of them in the heads, but their armor was too tough for the lasers to have much effect if they hit anywhere else. Shadow was doing more dodging than attacking. He jumped in the air to dodge a laser from one of their guns, and he spun midair to dodge another laser. Then he landed on one of the robots with a kick, and he punched another robot next to him. Shadow turned around and shot a robot that was trying to aim its gun at the black hedgehog.

However, when Shadow destroyed any number of Egg Pawns, more came from the adjacent rooms to fight him. If he had a Chaos Emerald, Shadow would have been able to make short work of them, but now things were complicated. Shadow was surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered. He hated to admit it, but he couldn't fight this many Egg Pawns by himself.

Then, a robotic voice echoed through the metal room. "Eradicate Eggman's robots." Suddenly, two missiles emerged from one of the room's open doors, and they exploded to destroy half the robots in the room. A black and red robot appeared from the door and smashed its way past a dozen Egg Pawns. This robot was an old friend of Shadow, one of Eggman's robots that went rogue and was now bent on taking revenge on its creator. This was E-123 Omega. Omega's arms became a pair of machineguns, and it spun its waist around robotically in order to shoot every remaining robot in the room. Shadow ducked to dodge the bullets. Omega's powerful bullets effortlessly pierced the Egg Pawns' metal armor, and they all fell to the ground. Shadow halfway smiled at the sight of his friend.


	6. Amy Arrives

Amy was northbound. She and Big were not nearly as fast as Sonic, but Central City was not far from the northern coast of South Island, so they were able to get there before too long. The pink hedgehog looked at the coast only to see a line of mountains blocking her view of the ocean. Big sniffed the air and said, "I smell trouble."

Amy nodded and said, "Sonic is past those mountains. I can feel it." Amy and Big ran at full speed toward the peak of the middle mountain. Eventually, they had to slow down to a steady hiking pace, but they reached the peak after a while. Amy looked over the top of the mountain to see Eggman's gigantic airship from the newspaper. "There it is, Big," the pink hedgehog said.

Big enthused, "I'm coming, Froggy!"

Meanwhile, Rouge had infiltrated the control room of the Egg Narwhal. She destroyed the Egg Pawns in the area, but since the ship was stationary and on autopilot, the ship was completely unfazed. Rouge was trying to change that. She was trying to hack the controls of the ship, but they were complicated and written in a code that she could not quite crack. "This is the same code from the back of Gerald Robotnik's journal," Rouge thought aloud. "Eggman must've memorized it and decided to convert his controls to it after he learned from Shadow that I couldn't decode it."

Rouge gave up on hacking the system’s software, and she kicked open the computer’s hull to reveal a menagerie of multicolored wires and gizmos. "Now let's see what we have here," Rouge said as she cracked her fingers. She examined the interior design of the computer. "If this is the main calibration mechanism, and this is the molecular modulation device, then this here must be the upper artillery controls. Therefore, if I—" Rouge kicked the computer and destroyed it. Red lights started flashing, and a loud alarm sounded. Rouge chuckled, "That's my cue to get the heck out." The airship began to lose altitude, and it slowly fell forward. Egg Pawns scrambled in panic. They raised the airship's anchor.

Amy and Big noticed the ship raising anchor and slowly falling toward the mountaintops. Amy said, "The ship is falling! The landing should be safe because of how slow it is, but this will give us an opportunity to board the aircraft! Let's do this, Big!"

Big agreed, "Right." As the Egg Narwhal moved past the pink hedgehog and the violet tabby, Big readied his trusty fishing rod. Amy jumped onto the large cat's shoulders as Big cast his rod toward the great machine. His fishing hook grabbed the side of the machine's wing, and Big jumped from the mountaintop with Amy on his shoulders. He reeled in his fishing rod to pull himself toward the airship's wing. When the rod was reeled in all the way, Amy climbed off of his shoulders onto the wing of the airship, and she helped Big on as well.

Amy said, "Look! There's Sonic!" The blue hedgehog was running across the top of the airship and fighting a horde of Egg Pawns, none of whom stood a chance against Sonic in this open area. Amy called, "Sonic!" but her hero could not hear her over the sound of the wind blowing through the top of the descending ship. Amy saw Tails approach Sonic and say something frantic to the blue warrior, but Amy could not hear what the young fox was saying. However, it must have been important because Sonic immediately ceased combat, grabbed Tails by the wrist, and ran toward the head of the narwhal-shaped aircraft. Amy looked at Big and said, "We have to go after him! He might be in trouble!"

Big nodded. "Alright, let's go!" They ran down the wing of the airship until they got on the back of the main body. However, once there, they were confronted by the same massive swarm of Egg Pawns that Sonic had been fighting. The Egg Pawns charged Big and Amy. Amy armed her signature Piko Piko Hammer and began smashing the pesky robots. Big removed the hook from his fishing rod, and in its place he attached a spiky, metal ball. Big swung his fishing pole above his head with great force, and he cast it toward the mass of Egg Pawns. The attack destroyed an entire line of the orange infantry. Big pulled his rod to the right in order to create a path through the robots for him and Amy to follow Sonic.

Big and Amy followed the path toward the head of the Egg Narwhal, and they smashed through every Egg Pawn that got in their way. The duo seemed unstoppable until a blue streak blurred past them and knocked them off their feet. Amy stood back up. "What was that?" she wondered aloud.

Big said, "I don't know! It looked like Sonic!"

Amy was confused. "Sonic?"

A robotic voice spoke, "You are slightly mistaken, Big the Cat." Amy and Big turned around to face the robot that had effortlessly tripped them. It was Metal Sonic.


	7. Jail Break

Sonic had carried Tails into the Egg Narwhal's central control room. Tails examined the destroyed computer. "Someone really tore this thing up."

Sonic said, "It must've been Rouge. She could've at least warned us that she was going to crash the ship."

Tails said, "There's no way I can fix the computer in time. We've got about twenty minutes until this ship hits ground."

Sonic smiled. "Then we'd better get going!"

Tails said, "Yeah, we have to get off this airship."

Sonic raised an eyebrow at Tails. "What are you talking about? We came here to find Eggman, didn't we? Well, I'm going to find Eggman!"

Tails was nervous. "I don't think that's a good—" Sonic grabbed Tails's wrist and pulled him out of the control room at the speed of sound.

Sonic dashed past a countless number of Egg Pawns without bothering to fight them. He ran through hallway after hallway until he reached a large metal door. Sonic stopped and tried to open the door, but it would not budge. Sonic looked at Tails. "We have to get through this door."

Tails asked, "Why?"

Sonic answered, "Because if Eggman bothered to lock and reinforce this door, then there must be something behind it that he doesn't want us to get. Am I right?"

Tails sighed, "I guess so. Alright, stand back." Sonic stepped aside, and Tails opened his suitcase. The young fox pulled from it a small gadget, and he began picking the metal door's lock. It took a few minutes, but Tails successfully picked the lock. The large door creaked open.

Sonic and Tails walked past the door into a room with a jail cell. Behind the cell's bars were four of Sonic's friends: Knuckles the Echidna, Vector the Crocodile, Cream the Rabbit, and Cream's pet, Cheese the Chao. Sonic was shocked. "What are you three doing here?"

Cream smiled and yelled with joy, "Sonic! You've come to rescue us!"

Sonic said, "Don't worry, guys, I'll get you out of here."

Sonic approached the metal bars, and Vector shouted, "No! Don't touch the—" Sonic placed his hand on one of the bars and was blown backward by a surge of electricity. "—bars…" Vector finished.

Tails said, "They're electric."

Knuckles added sarcastically, "You think?"

Sonic stood up and shook his head. He addressed the prisoners, "How did you guys end up in here?"

Knuckles answered, "Eggman stole the Master Emerald from my home on Angel Island. He plans to use its infinite supply of chaos energy to power some new machine of his. Of course, as the Master Emerald's guardian, I fought with all my might to protect the Emerald, but Eggman had two of his elite robots team up against me. I would've been able to take out either of them separately, but I was outnumbered. They overpowered me, stole the Master Emerald, and locked me up here."

Tails was examining the electric bars. Sonic looked at Vector and Cream. "What about you two? How did Eggman capture you?"

Vector sighed and said, "Well, after you defeated Saturn, Amy went chasing after you. Cream here was intent on going with Amy, but her mother wouldn't let her go without my supervision, so we were stuck at their vacation home in Metropolis until my leg healed from the injury I received in the battle against Saturn. By the way, if you used that positive chaos energy to heal Knuckles and Shadow from their injuries during the fight with Saturn, why didn't you use it to heal my leg?"

Now Sonic sighed, "I'll tell you the same thing that I told Saturn. I wasn't controlling the positive chaos energy. It acted on its own after it rejected Saturn's evil heart. The energy healed Shadow, Knuckles, and me because we had used it before, so it was familiar with us. However, you've never used the positive chaos energy from the Chaos Emeralds. The energy didn't recognize you, so it thought it would be best to leave you as you were."

Vector said, "You talk about this energy like it's a living thing."

Sonic chuckled, "You never know."

Vector continued his explanation, "Anyway, Cream and I set off in search of you and Amy. We thought you'd probably be heading after Eggman, so we decided to look for him. I got a tip that he was north of South Island, so I went to investigate. Sure enough, I found him along with this massive airship. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Eggman and his robots to discover us. They swarmed us with an army of those Egg Pawns. Normally, I would've fought them, but I didn't want Cream to get caught in the scuffle, so I let them take us prisoner. Luckily, I managed to get a photograph of Eggman and the airship with my cell phone, and I texted it to my Detective Agency before we were captured."

Tails said, "That explains how that photo got in the newspaper."

Sonic said, "Alright, I think we know everything we need to know."

Cream added, "Except how to get through these bars…"

Sonic chuckled, "Leave that to me. Tails, give me your suitcase." Tails gave the suitcase to Sonic. The blue hedgehog opened the suitcase and pulled out the seven Chaos Emeralds. Sonic concentrated, and the seven Emeralds began to float around him. Sonic's blue fur turned golden, and his green eyes turned red. His quills spiked upward, and a sparkling aura formed around the gold superhero. Sonic had become Super Sonic. Super Sonic flew headfirst into the electric bars. They're shocking surge had no affect against the invulnerable hedgehog, and Super Sonic blew straight through them.

Cream, Cheese, Vector, and Knuckles cheered. "Alright!" Knuckles yelled. "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

Cream said, "You're so awesome, Sonic!"

Super Sonic chuckled a little before turning back into Sonic. He gave the Chaos Emeralds to Tails, and Tails put them back in his briefcase.

Vector asked, "Hang on. Why didn't you use Chaos Control to get all of us out of here?"

Sonic said, "Honestly, I didn't exactly come here to rescue you. Tails and I didn't even know that you guys had been captured. We're here for Eggman. Besides, I can only stay Super Sonic for so long, and using Chaos Control shortens that time period. I need to save my Super form for my fight against Eggman."

Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, and Vector nodded in understanding, and they left the jail room. The group went down the hallway and continued to search the slowly crashing ship for Eggman.


	8. Surprise for Shadow

After Omega cleared the room of Egg Pawns, Shadow approached his old friend. "Hey, Omega, what brings you to this flying junkyard?"

Omega answered robotically, "I am here to eradicate Eggman and his inferior creations." Omega looked down at Shadow. "Why are you here?"

Shadow chuckled, "I'm looking for Sonic if you can believe it. He has the Chaos Emeralds, and I need them."

Omega scanned the area with his mechanical eyes. "Sensors indicate that Sonic the Hedgehog is running toward the heart of the airship. Sensors also indicate that he is with Miles Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Cream the Rabbit, Vector the Crocodile, and a Chao. The group is moving quickly toward Eggman's laboratory."

Shadow said, "It looks like we'll both find what we want at that lab." He addressed Omega, "Lead the way, old pal." Omega hovered out of the room with the rockets on his back and feet, and Shadow skated after him with his hover shoes.

Meanwhile, Eggman was putting the finishing touches on his machine. Orbot and Cubot entered the room and approached their creator. "Sir," Orbot began, "we have a status report."

Eggman did not stop working as he said, "Proceed."

Orbot continued, "Well, to start, the ship is crash landing, and we have about fifteen minutes until impact."

Eggman answered, "I'm aware of that. I have plenty of time to finish the machine."

Cubot spoke, "Also, there's a couple more varmints trespassin' on this here ship."

Eggman seemed concerned, but he continued to work. "Who are they?"

Orbot answered, "They are Amy Rose and Big the Cat."

Eggman asked, "What about the Metals?"

Orbot answered again, "They have been sent out as you requested. Metal Sonic is currently on top of the ship confronting Ms. Rose and Big the Cat. The other one is on his way to confront Shadow like he wanted."

Eggman asked, "So there's no one fighting Sonic, huh? That's not good. It's only a matter of time before he finds me here. The machine must be finished before then! I guess we have no choice but to use those hostages we captured to keep Sonic at bay."

Cubot scratched his head. "Well, ya see, here's the thing 'bout that. Sonic 'n' Tails found the prisoners, 'n' the blue rascal done freed 'em with them Chaos Emeralds."

Eggman stopped working momentarily. "What! You're telling me that Sonic has the seven Chaos Emeralds!"

Cubot and Orbot both hesitated to say, "Um, yes."

Eggman screamed in a panicked fury, "This situation keeps getting worse and worse! Sonic will have no trouble destroying my machine if he can use his Super form! I have to hurry!" Eggman addressed his assistants, "You two, give me a hand with this!"

Meanwhile, Shadow and Omega were fighting their way past lines of Egg Pawns as they came nearer to Eggman's laboratory. They had just finished destroying every Egg Pawn in a certain hallway when Omega stopped. Shadow looked at his robotic friend. "What is it, Omega?"

Omega announced, "Sensors indicate that a powerful Eggman robot is close to our location."

Shadow asked, "How close?"

Omega said, "Very close."

A powerful laser blew a hole through one of the hallway's metal walls. Some smoke lingered from the blast, but the silhouette of a hedgehog could be seen through it. A robotic doppelganger of Shadow emerged from the smoke. Shadow's facial expression showed his surprise. The robot spoke, "Well hello there, Shadow, I'm glad to meet you at last."

Shadow said, "Just who're you?"

The robot gave a sort of mechanical chuckle. "Isn't it obvious? I'm Metal Shadow. Eggman designed me from data he collected on you. I have all of your abilities and more, and I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you."

Omega analyzed Metal Shadow. "The design for this unit is not found in my database. It must be a newer model. However, scanners confirm that it is an Eggman robot. Therefore, it must be eradicated." Omega's arms became machineguns, and he fired them at Metal Shadow. The black robot jumped from the floor to dodge the bullets. He continued to jump from the hallway's ceiling and walls to consecutively dodge Omega's attacks. Metal Shadow jumped toward Omega while continuing to dodge the bullets, and he punched Omega in the chest once he got close enough.

Omega flew down the hallway and into a wall. Shadow looked toward him. "Omega!" the black hedgehog yelled in concern for his friend. Shadow turned his attention back toward his metallic doppelganger. "Leave him out of this! Fight me!"

Metal Shadow said, "That's exactly what I intend to do."

However, before their battle could begin, Eggman's voice sounded over the intercom. "Attention all Eggman robots, report to the central laboratory immediately. Guard the machine from Sonic the Hedgehog."

Metal Shadow grimaced, but he knew he had to obey. He looked at Shadow, "I'll kill you another time, my loathsome copy." Metal Shadow flew off using his own pair of hover shoes.

Shadow regretted not chasing after him, but he had to check on Omega. The black hero went over to his robot friend. "Omega, are you alright?"

Omega stood up. "Internal scans confirm that this unit is fully operational."

Shadow said, "Good, now let's get to that laboratory."


	9. Metal Sonic's Return

Amy looked in shock at Metal Sonic. She remained speechless at first, but Big became aggressive. "I remember you! You're that metal jerk who kidnapped Froggy a long time ago!"

Metal Sonic said blankly, "I am."

Big accused Metal Sonic, "I bet you're the one who had that other robot kidnap Froggy again! Give me my Froggy back!"

Metal Sonic told Big, "I have no idea about what you are talking."

Big growled in anger. Amy spoke finally, "You're alive… Metal, you're alive."

Metal Sonic addressed Amy, "You are surprised?"

Amy said, "Saturn destroyed you. I saw it. He ripped out your core. You were dead."

Metal Sonic said, "That is incorrect. I am a robot, and robots do not die. We can be depowered or disassembled to the point of dysfunction, but we are neither organic nor living. Therefore, we cannot truly die."

Amy asked, "What are you doing here with Eggman? I thought you were good now!"

Metal Sonic said, "I have never been good, nor have I ever been evil. I do not bother to align myself and be restricted by such trivial things as morality and ethics. I exist only to serve Eggman."

Big was confused. "What are you talking about, Amy? I thought he was a bad guy."

Amy was disheartened by Metal Sonic's words, but she remained defensive of the blue robot. "He's changed! He saved my life! He's my friend now! Aren't you, Metal?"

Metal Sonic said, "Friend? Why would I ever need something as meaningless as a friend?"

Tears started to run down Amy's face. "Eggman did this to you. What did he do to you? He must've erased your memory of what happened after you saved me from that truck!"

Metal Sonic continued, "On the contrary, Ms. Rose, I remember in full detail what happened on that day and on the day after when I fought Metal Knuckles and Saturn. I remember that unknown program which kept instructing me to do pointless things to help you."

Amy remembered Metal Sonic's last words before his supposed death: "When I saw you about to be killed by that large truck, my mainframe received a command from an unidentifiable source to save your life. … I think—Amy Rose—I—love—you…"

Amy's mind flashed back into reality as Metal Sonic continued to speak, "However, when Eggman repaired me, he moved that program to a small memory chip in the back of my hardware. The desire to protect your life no longer obscures my objectives."

Amy continued to cry. "But I thought—"

Metal Sonic interrupted her, "That I had feelings for you? Ms. Rose, be logical. It is as I told you before, we robots are not living beings. We feel only what Eggman has programmed us to feel, and I feel nothing. Some of Eggman's robots, like Metal Knuckles and Eggman's personal assistants, are programmed with artificial personalities, but I am not among them. Emotions would only distract me from my primary directives."

Amy fell to her knees sobbing. Big yelled, "Stop it! You're hurting my friend's feelings!"

Metal Sonic disobeyed the tabby cat. "That is exactly what I mean. Do you understand now, Ms. Rose? At this moment, your uncontrollable torrent of emotions has caused you to become completely distracted from your previous directive. You no longer have the mental ability to operate at full capacity. Your emotions are merely a hindrance."

Amy's eyes widened with realization. She slowly stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes, but she still hung her head. "You're right, Metal. Just then, my emotions were distracting me, but now I remember why I'm here." Amy looked at Metal Sonic with fierce determination replacing the sadness in her eyes. "I'm here to find my Sonic!"

Big was happy to see his friend back on her feet. He looked back at Metal Sonic. "If you try to fight us, we won't hold back! I don't care if you were Amy's friend before. You're just your mean old self again now!" Big readied his fishing rod with the spiked ball still at the end.

Metal Sonic said, "My current objective is to eliminate all intruders on this ship. My former dealings with you, Ms. Rose, will not hinder me from completing my objective." Metal Sonic armed the laser guns in his arms.

Amy said, "Eliminate… all intruders, huh? Is that what you said?" Metal Sonic did not answer. Amy continued, "That includes my Sonic, doesn't it?" Metal Sonic still remained silent. Amy said, "I see. If that's the case—" Amy armed her Piko Piko Hammer. "—I won't let my former dealings with you hinder me either!"

Each warrior was determined to battle against the other, but right before their brawl started, Eggman's voice sounded over the intercom, "Attention all Eggman robots, report to the central laboratory immediately. Guard the machine from Sonic the Hedgehog."

A small trap door opened in the top of the airship. Metal Sonic quickly disarmed his laser guns and flew through the opening. An odd sensation stirred through his software. His mainframe attempted to identify the source of this sensation, but it failed. Metal Sonic searched his internal dictionary to find a term synonymous with this sensation. He was shocked by the results: _reprieve_ , _respite_ , and _relief_.


	10. Foiling Eggman

Sonic, Tails, Cream, Cheese, Vector, and Knuckles ran down random hallways in the airship. Sonic, Vector, and Knuckles smashed through every Egg Pawn that got in their way. The team heard Eggman's voice on an intercom, "Attention all Eggman robots, report to the central laboratory immediately. Guard the machine from Sonic the Hedgehog."

Vector said sarcastically, "Great, now we'll have to bash through every miserable robot on this ship to get to Eggman."

Knuckles said, "Then I say we get bashing!"

Sonic chuckled, "Or we could just get to Eggman before his robots do."

Tails said, "That idea sounds good and all, but we don't even know where Eggman's lab is."

Another voice spoke, "I can help you with that." It was Rouge. The elusive bat joined the group and held up a map of the Egg Narwhal's interior. "I picked this up from one of the doctor's goons. According to this, his laboratory is directly down this hallway."

Sonic smiled, "Then let's get going!"

Meanwhile, Eggman was in his laboratory with Orbot, Cubot, Metal Sonic, and Metal Shadow. Eggman screwed a bolt into place. "There," he said. "That's the last screw. My glorious machine is finally complete!"

Cubot asked, "So, uh, beggin' yer pardon, Sir, but what exactly is yer machine anyway?"

Eggman chuckled maniacally, "This is a sort of time machine. It harnesses the infinite chaos energy in the Master Emerald, and it transports a single person back in time. I'm going to use it to transport myself back in time and ensure that Sonic will never be born!" Metal Sonic seemed momentarily startled. Eggman continued his evil rant, "A world without that accursed hedgehog is a world where I shall rule!"

Orbot asked, "So how do you start it?"

Eggman said, "It's simple. All I have to do is insert the ignition key in this slot." Eggman referred to a small keyhole on the machine. Eggman reached into his coat pocket, but the key was not there. He checked his other pocket, but it was empty as well. Eggman searched all of his pockets, but he could not find the key. "Where did I put that blasted key?"

There was a flash of blue light, and Metal Shadow said, "Duck."

Eggman hesitated as he gave Metal Shadow a confused look. Just then, Sonic stepped on top of Eggman's head and pushed the evil doctor into his control panel. The blue hero jumped from the mad doctor's head and landed on the floor next to Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, Vector, and Rouge. Sonic held up Dr. Eggman's ignition key and taunted, "Looking for this?"

Dr. Eggman's massive mustache drooped. "How did all of you get in my laboratory?"

Knuckles chuckled, "Have you forgotten that Sonic here can use Chaos Control?"

Eggman pointed at Sonic and screamed, "Get that key!"

Orbot and Cubot charged at Sonic, but Knuckles and Vector blocked their path. Knuckles punched Orbot, and Vector punched Cubot. The two robots flew back into a wall. Metal Shadow speedily appeared in front of Sonic, but Sonic quickly ran from the black robot. Rouge taunted Metal Shadow, "A Metal Shadow? I swear Eggman has no originality."

Metal Shadow looked at Rouge. "You must be Rouge the Bat."

Rouge chuckled, "And you must be about to get hit."

Metal Shadow said, "What?" just before Cheese rocketed into him and knocked him into a wall. There was a small dent in Metal Shadow's chest, but his automatic repair system fixed it within seconds.

Cream high-fived her pet Chao. "Good going, Cheese!"

Cheese smiled proudly and exclaimed, "Cho-Cho!"

Metal Sonic ran in front of Sonic. Sonic ran away, but Metal Sonic ran in front of him again. Metal Sonic said, "I am just as fast as you are, Sonic. You cannot run from me."

Sonic chuckled, "Hey, Metal, you've gone down in the world since we last met. It's a shame to see you working with Eggman again." Metal Sonic punched at his organic doppelganger repetitively, but Sonic dodged all of the attacks. Then, Metal Shadow flew past Sonic and swiped Eggman's ignition key from the blue hero.

Metal Shadow threw the key to Dr. Eggman. Sonic ran toward the key, but Metal Sonic tripped him. Tails, Knuckles, and Vector jumped toward the key as well, but they were not fast enough to prevent the mad doctor from catching it. Once the key was in Eggman's evil hands, he laughed malevolently, "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! The key is mine!"

Eggman was just about to insert the key into his machine's keyhole when the door to his laboratory came crashing down. Everyone turned their attention to the remains of the door and the smoke surrounding it. The smoke cleared, and two Egg Pawns were standing motionless in the doorway. "What is the meaning of this?" Eggman demanded.

The two Egg Pawns fell to the ground lifelessly to reveal Shadow and Omega. An uncountable number of destroyed Egg Pawns littered the hallway behind the duo. Shadow said, "Hey, everybody, how's it going?"


	11. Heck Breaks Loose

Shadow and Omega entered Dr. Eggman's central laboratory to find quite a crowd. There were Dr. Eggman, Cubot, Orbot, Metal Sonic, Metal Shadow, Rouge, Vector, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic. All eyes were on Shadow and Omega. Shadow chuckled, "I'm sorry. Are we interrupting something?"

Metal Shadow eyed Shadow most intently, but he did not strike. Shadow looked at Eggman, who was about to insert a key into a slot on a massive machine. Shadow used his laser gun to shoot the key out of Eggman's hand. "Ouch!" the mad doctor exclaimed.

Everyone dove for the key, but Sonic was the one to catch it. Sonic looked at Shadow, "Boy, am I glad to see you! It's about time you joined the party! You really saved my neck!"

Shadow looked at Sonic. "Don't think for a second that I'm here to save you, you blue faker. I'm here for the Chaos Emeralds."

Knuckles was using the distraction caused by Shadow and Omega's entrance to sneak up behind Dr. Eggman. When the red echidna was behind the evil doctor, he knocked Eggman out with a swift punch in the cheek. Cubot and Orbot lunged to their master's aid, but Knuckles gave them an intimidating look that made them both retract. Metal Shadow and Metal Sonic did not seem concerned for their creator in the slightest. Metal Shadow was focused on his organic counterpart, and Metal Sonic was focused on the ignition key in Sonic's hand.

Rouge spoke, "Speaking of the Chaos Emeralds," she pointed a gun at Sonic's head, "hand them over."

Everyone was startled except Shadow and the robots. Sonic looked at Rouge. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Rouge said seriously, "I'm afraid not. When G.U.N. sent me to come with you to foil Eggman, they gave me another secret mission. Do you remember what you said to Saturn when you first confronted him?"

Sonic looked angrily at Rouge. "I suppose I don't."

Rouge said, "You told Saturn that after you defeated him, you would return all of the Chaos Emeralds to their rightful owners. My mission is to recover the silver and violet Emeralds that were stolen from government facilities, so hand them over."

Sonic had little choice. He motioned his head for Tails to bring Rouge his suitcase. Tails did so, and he removed the silver and violet Chaos Emeralds from the case. He handed the Emeralds to Rouge, but before Rouge could take them, Shadow pointed his laser gun at her head. Rouge pulled out another gun and pointed it at Shadow's head. Rouge asked Shadow, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Shadow said, "Didn't you hear me? I'm here for the Chaos Emeralds, all seven of them, including the two you were assigned to steal, so I can't just let you go waltzing off with them."

Orbot asked Cubot, "What exactly is happening here?"

Cubot answered, "I reckon this here is what ya might call a showdown."

Cream looked helplessly at Vector. "What do we do, Mr. Vector?"

Vector said, "I don't think there's anything we can do."

Knuckles shouted, "We don't have time for this! You guys can shoot each other over the Emeralds later! This ship is going to crash any minute!"

Tails was torn apart. The poor kid could not decide to whom he should give the Emeralds. He wanted to give them to Sonic, but Shadow could easily take them from him if he wanted to, but Rouge might actually shoot Sonic if Tails did not give the Emeralds to her.

Shadow screamed, "Give me the damn Emeralds, you brat!"

Rouge said, "Give them to me, or I'll shoot your friend!"

Tails looked back and forth. The young fox lowered his head as he began to hand the silver and violet Chaos Emeralds to Rouge, but Tails was pounced and pinned to the ground by Metal Shadow before he could hand them over. Tails dropped the suitcase and the two Chaos Emeralds. The black robot readied the laser gun in his arm and pressed it to the back of Tails’s head. Metal Shadow looked at Sonic. "I'll take that ignition key if you please."

Tails said, "Don't do it, Sonic!"

Metal Shadow pressed the young fox harder against the ground and said sternly, "Give me the key, or the kid dies."

Sonic looked at Rouge, who still had a gun pointed at his head. Rouge nodded. "If you as much as touch one of those Chaos Emeralds, I'll blow your brains out." Sonic nodded in agreement, and Rouge lowered her gun. Sonic gave Metal Shadow the key, which Metal Shadow threw directly to Metal Sonic.

Metal Shadow continued, "And the Emeralds as well if you don't mind."

Rouge pointed her gun at Sonic's head again and said, "Don't you dare!"

Sonic hung his head. "I'm sorry, Rouge, but I don't have a choice." Sonic picked up the suitcase containing the other five Chaos Emeralds. Rouge kept her gun pointed at Sonic's head, but she could not bring herself to shoot her old pal. She was hoping that Sonic would be too cowardly to call her bluff, but she knew that he was too heroic for that. Sonic held the suitcase firmly and looked down at Metal Shadow. "You want the Emeralds, huh?" Sonic asked with his head still lowered. Sonic raised his head with fire in his eyes. "Then take them!"

In a swift motion, Sonic bashed the suitcase across Metal Shadow's head. Metal Shadow was knocked off of Tails, and the suitcase was flung open, scattering the five Emeralds it contained along with some of Tails's various gadgets. Suddenly, the still room burst to life. Sonic helped Tails up. Shadow and Metal Shadow dove for the five scattered Emeralds. Rouge grabbed the silver and violet Emeralds that Tails had dropped.

Metal Sonic used his speed to appear behind Knuckles and kick him aside. The blue robot inserted the ignition key into its slot, and the machine activated. Vector dove toward the machine, but Metal Sonic appeared in front of the crocodile. Metal Sonic shouted, "You will not interfere!" and he knocked Vector aside with a punch that was too quick for Vector to dodge.

Eggman's machine was working. The massive construction rattled and clanked loudly as negative chaos energy flowed through its various, transparent pipes. Knuckles and Vector got up and were ready to fight, but Metal Sonic stood protectively in front of the great mechanism. Tails said, "Knuckles! Vector! Don't destroy the machine!"

Knuckles and Vector gave Tails confused looks. Knuckles asked, "Why not?"

Tails said, "If all of that chaos energy that's flowing through those pipes gets released, there's no telling what could happen!"

Vector asked, "Then what do we do?"

Tails whispered to Sonic, "I have a plan, but I need you to distract Metal Sonic."

Sonic smiled. "Leave it to me."

Sonic curled himself into a ball and rolled toward Metal Sonic at the speed of sound. Metal Sonic dodged, and Sonic uncurled himself. Sonic jumped at Metal Sonic and punched at him consecutively midair, but Metal Sonic blocked all of the hits.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Metal Shadow were scrambling over the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow managed to grab the red one and the green one, but Metal Shadow got a hold of the yellow, blue, and cyan Emeralds. Once the three Emeralds were in his possession, Metal Shadow announced, "Chaos Control!" With that, the black robot disappeared in a flash of green light.

Tails had opened a small part of Eggman's time machine, and he was tinkering with it using a screwdriver that fell from his suitcase. Cubot and Orbot approached Tails. "Just what do ya think yer doin', ya little varmint?" Cubot asked while pounding his right fist against his left palm.

Cream and Cheese ran in front of Tails defensively. Cream said, "If you want to get to him, you'll have to go through us!"

Cheese added, "Cho!" Orbot and Cubot took one look at the destructive Chao and ran away screaming.

Tails chuckled, "Thanks, you two."

Cream smiled. "It's no problem. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Tails said, "It's too dangerous to destroy this machine, but maybe if I reverse its polarity, I can send the negative chaos energy harmlessly back into the Master Emerald."

Cream said, "That's brilliant! How long will it take?"

Tails said, "It should be done right about… now!" The chaos energy in the machine began to move in reverse. Tails cheered, "I did it!"

Vector said, "Um, guys, I don't think we're out of the woods just yet."

A robotic voice sounded over the intercom, "Crash landing in ten seconds: nine—eight—" The voice continued to count down. Metal Sonic stopped fighting with his organic counterpart. He grabbed the still unconscious Eggman and carried him to safety.

Shadow said, "Everyone get close to me!" The crowd did as instructed. Shadow pointed his hand toward Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Vector, Cream, and Cheese and shouted, "Chaos Control!" The group was teleported in a flash of green light. Then Shadow repeated, "Chaos Control!" and he was teleported away along with Omega and Rouge.

The Egg Narwhal crashed.


	12. Aftermath of the Airship

Amy and Big had followed Metal Sonic down the trap door he had used to escape from their imminent battle. They had hoped to follow him to find Sonic, but the duo soon became hopelessly lost in the airship's mazelike cornucopia of hallways. They smashed their way past the Egg Pawns that stood in their way from time to time, but they made no real progress.

After some time, they heard a robotic voice over the intercom, "Crash landing in ten seconds: nine—eight—seven—six—" The voice continued to count as Amy and Big scrambled toward the airship's nearest window. They jumped from the window and used Big's umbrella as a parachute to float safely down from the crashing Egg Narwhal. They landed on the grassy ground north of Central City, and they watched the great airship slide through the green fields as it slowly connected with the ground. The ship fell apart slowly. First, its wings fell off, and then the lower half of the massive aircraft was crushed by its upper half, which created a considerable amount of metal wreckage. Also, after the upper half of the ship crushed the lower half, the ceiling of the upper half started to cave inward.

Amy gasped, "You don't think Sonic was still in there, do you?"

Big shook his head. "I don't know, Amy, but we have to start looking. If Sonic and Froggy were still on that ship when it crashed, then they might need our help to get out of that rubble!"

Amy nodded. "You're right. Let's go!"

Big and Amy ran toward the rubble of the ship’s tail, which was the part nearest to them. Big used his great strength to lift up large chunks of broken metal, and Amy searched through various smaller chunks. Big called, "Froggy! Where are you?"

Amy called, "Sonic! Are you there?" Just then, they heard voices in the distance. They could not understand exactly what the voices were saying, but they were frantic. Amy and Big ran toward the voices, but they remained cautious. They turned around the corner of what was left of a metal wall, and they saw Metal Sonic with Eggman's personal assistants, Orbot and Cubot.

"Is he dead?" Orbot asked, referring to an unconscious Dr. Eggman.

Metal Sonic answered, "No, he is alive. I took him to the upper part of the airship, so he could survive the crash."

Eggman started waking up. He put his hand on his bruised cheek and stammered, "Oh… what happened?"

Metal Sonic answered, "You were knocked unconscious by Knuckles after Shadow and Omega entered your laboratory. Metal Shadow and I retrieved the ignition key to your machine from Sonic, and we activated the mechanism, but Tails managed to reverse the machine's polarity just before the airship crash landed."

Eggman asked, "Where is everybody?"

Metal Sonic answered again, "The Chaos Emeralds were being kept in a suitcase held by Tails, but the suitcase was flung open by Sonic. Rouge has the silver and violet Emeralds. Shadow took the red and green Emeralds, and Metal Shadow has the blue, cyan, and yellow Emeralds. After the Chaos Emeralds were in his possession, Metal Shadow used Chaos Control to flee the airship."

Eggman said in frustration, "Why that cowardly little machine!" He referred to Orbot, "Contact him immediately and tell him to bring those Emeralds back here to me!"

Orbot saluted Eggman. "Yes sir!"

Eggman asked Metal Sonic, "What about the others?"

Metal Sonic continued, "My scanners detected that Shadow also used Chaos Control to transport Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Vector, Cream, and Cheese to safety. Then, he used a second Chaos Control to teleport himself away from the ship along with Rouge and Omega."

Amy whispered to Big, "I didn't know that Cream and Cheese were here too. At least they're safe now. It looks like Shadow was also here, and now Eggman's built a robotic copy of him as well."

Big nodded. "I see."

Cubot asked Metal Sonic, "What about them varmints Amy 'n' Big? Didn't ya say that they were on this here aircraft too? What do ya reckon happened to them?"

Metal Sonic's sensors detected Amy and Big hiding behind the remnants of a metal wall and eavesdropping on them. Regardless, he said, "That is irrelevant."

Orbot interjected, "Sir, it appears that Metal Shadow has shut down his own communications system. He's not responding."

Eggman said, "That traitor! That's the last time I trust anything to him!"

Metal Sonic defended his partner, "Perhaps he is in the midst of something important and simply does not wish to be distracted at this moment."

Amy whispered to Big again, "C'mon. We've heard enough. We know that Sonic and the others are safe. We need to get out of here before they spot us."

Big whispered back, "But what about Froggy?"

Amy whispered, "They haven't mentioned him, so maybe he was never on this ship in the first place. We'll find Sonic and Froggy later, but we need to get out of here."

Big sighed, but he followed Amy. The two stealthily walked to a different part of the ship's wreckage. As Amy and Big continued to walk, they heard something moving beneath the rubble. Amy stopped, and then she moved closer to the source of movement. Big noticed her, and he started to follow, but then the large tabby accidentally stepped on a small switch in the wreckage. There was a robotic voice, "Emergency defense protocol activated."

Suddenly, dozens of Egg Pawns began to rise from the rubble. Their damages began to repair themselves, and their eyes glowed red. Amy was transfixed on the moving rubble. She grabbed the shaking chunk of metal and started pulling it. She did not seem to notice the rising robotic infantry. Big said, "Um, Amy, we might have a problem."

Amy said, "Hold on!" and she pulled the metal harder though she barely managed to budge the great scrap.

Big said, "Hurry!" The Egg Pawns armed their laser guns, and they pointed their weapons at Big and Amy.

Finally, Amy was able to pull the scrap heap aside to reveal the face of a silver-grey hedgehog. Amy wondered, "Who is this?"

The hedgehog opened his eyes to reveal yellow irises. The scrap metal that held him down started to glow blue, and it floated off of him. The hedgehog looked at the Egg Pawns, and the glowing piece of metal flew at a group of them. The metal smashed the robots. The silver hedgehog stood up, and more pieces of metal from the wrecked airship started glowing. The hedgehog moved his hand toward the mass of Egg Pawns, and the pieces of metal flew into them. When all of the robots were destroyed, the metal stopped glowing, and the hedgehog relaxed.

Amy looked at the hedgehog. "Wow! That was amazing! Who are you?"

The silver-grey hedgehog looked back at Amy. "I'm Silver the Hedgehog."


	13. The Plan

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, and Vector found themselves in Central City. Cream looked from side to side and asked, "Where are we?"

Sonic exclaimed, "We're back in Central City!"

Vector observed, "Shadow must've transported us to the nearest location he thought would be safe."

Knuckles said, "That was almost nice of him."

Sonic added, "Yeah, I would be thanking him if he hadn't just stolen my Chaos Emeralds."

Vector said, "Technically they weren't exactly all yours."

Knuckles added, "He's right! One of them is mine!"

Sonic said, "Well, he stole my Emerald too!"

Tails said, "This isn't the time for fighting, guys. Eggman is still out there, and it's only a matter of time before he fixes his machine."

Cream spoke, "He's right, and he still has the Master Emerald."

Knuckles yelled, "That's right! I didn't even see it when we were in his laboratory!"

Tails observed, "The pipes that were directing the Master Emerald's power weren't leading to the ground or ceiling."

Vector deduced, "Eggman must've put the Emerald inside of the time machine itself."

Knuckles said, "That would explain why it was so big."

Sonic shouted, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get back to the remains of that airship and stop Eggman from repairing his machine!"

Tails said, "Hang on, guys. We need a plan."

Vector said, "We should each have our own role to play. One of us should focus on destroying the machine while the others keep Eggman and his robots at bay."

Cream said, "I think you should destroy the machine, Mr. Vector."

Vector looked at Cream, "Me? Why me?"

Cream said, "You're the strongest person here besides Knuckles, but Knuckles is a better fighter than you, so he'd do a better job fighting the robots."

Knuckles said, "That sounds good to me. Just make sure you don't get a scratch on my Master Emerald, or else you'll join the robots I'll be smashing."

Sonic chuckled, "Watch it, Knucklehead; we're all on the same team here."

Tails added, "Don't forget, Vector, you have to destroy the machine before they turn it on, or else the results could be catastrophic."

Vector nodded to Tails. "Got it."

Cream asked, "What about Metal Sonic and Metal Shadow? It's like Mr. Vector said, some of us need to fight them, or they'll prevent him from destroying the machine."

Sonic said, "Metal Sonic and I are nearly identical in terms of our power and abilities, so it would take a long time for me to settle a fight with him."

Knuckles spoke up, "Leave it to me then. I'm the only other person here strong enough to fight that blue copycat."

Cream said, "Cheese and I can fight off Eggman's other robots."

Tails affirmed, "I'll help you two."

Sonic sighed, "I guess that means I'm stuck against Metal Faker and the Egghead."

Vector said, "That sounds like a plan to me!"

Knuckles said, "Just remember, guys, if Eggman succeeds with using this machine, he's going to wipe Sonic from the face of existence. Sonic is depending on all of us to do our best."

Sonic smiled and held out his hand, and Tails put his hand on top of it. Knuckles and Cream put their hands on top of Tails's hand, and Vector put his hand on theirs. Cheese added his small hand to the group. Tails said, "For Sonic."

The group repeated, "For Sonic!" and their circle broke.

Sonic said, "Thanks guys, you all have no idea how much this means to me."

Everyone just smiled. Cream looked at Sonic with concern. "Sonic, are you crying?"

Sonic wiped his eyes and replied defensively, "No! My eyelids were just sweating a little!" Everyone except Sonic laughed at his response.

Sonic chuckled, "C'mon, guys; we're wasting time. Let's go!" The six warriors ran northward toward the ruins of the Egg Narwhal.


	14. Shadow's Friends

Shadow, Rouge, and Omega appeared in a flash of green light at a deserted area to the west of the Egg Narwhal's crash site. Shadow was slightly out of breath. Rouge asked, "Are you okay?"

Shadow retorted, "I didn't expect you to be concerned considering you just pointed a gun at my head."

Rouge chuckled teasingly, "Oh, you know I was just kidding."

Shadow was not amused. "Well, if you must know, even with two Chaos Emeralds, it's a tad strenuous not only to use two consecutive Chaos Controls, but to also teleport such a large number of people with the Chaos Controls."

Rouge attempted to correct him, "You know, you could have just teleported all of us with one big Chaos Control. I can't help but feel that would've been a bit easier."

Shadow said, "If I did that, then I would be in the same spot as Sonic and his groupies, and they would try to take the Chaos Emeralds from me." Shadow looked at Rouge. "Speaking of which, I still need those two that you're holding on to."

Rouge said, "Not a chance, old pal. G.U.N. was pretty persuasive about making sure that I get these Chaos Emeralds."

Shadow became irritated and asked, "Just how much are they paying you?"

Rouge chuckled, "Let's just say that I won't be living in that old apartment anymore."

Shadow looked at Omega. "Omega, you haven't said a word since this little scuffle started. Who do you think should get the Chaos Emeralds?"

Omega looked back at Shadow, and then the great robot looked back at Rouge. Omega said, "I am indifferent."

Shadow sighed, "That figures." The black hero addressed Rouge again, "Maybe there's some way we can compromise on this."

Rouge examined her nails and said, "I'm listening."

Shadow said, "Metal Shadow has made it quite clear that he intends to kill me. Eggman programmed him with abilities identical to my own, which means that he can draw power from the Chaos Emeralds just like I do. Right now, he has three of the Emeralds, so if I fight him with only two, I'll be at a disadvantage."

Rouge seemed unconcerned. "So?"

Shadow added, "A severe disadvantage."

Rouge smiled maliciously. "So you're begging me?"

Shadow defended his endless pride, "Absolutely not."

Rouge taunted Shadow, "Say please."

Shadow said, "Over my dead body."

Omega said, "Probability of Shadow surviving an encounter with Metal Shadow at this point is less than 32.8%."

Shadow sighed. He hesitated, "P-P-Please…" The word seemed to roll off of his tongue as smoothly as jagged nails. The prideful hedgehog gritted his teeth.

Rouge laughed, "Alright, I'll let you borrow the Chaos Emeralds, but I expect you to give them back to me as soon as you're done trashing Metal Shadow."

Shadow said, "You got it." Shadow took Rouge's two Chaos Emeralds. Then, he began to juggle his four Chaos Emeralds in his left hand. Shadow walked away from Omega and Rouge. "Omega, make sure you keep her out of trouble."

Omega said, "Affirmative," and Rouge smirked slightly.

Shadow continued to walk through the grassy fields. He walked for a few minutes until he heard a voice say, "Good going, Shadow."

Shadow paused, and he looked around. He saw no one. "Show yourself!"

The voice chuckled maniacally, "I'm afraid I can't."

Shadow asked, "Who are you?"

The voice gave another chuckle, "I'm offended, Shadow. You've forgotten already? I'm your dear friend from your dream last night."

Shadow said, "I was hoping it was just a dream."

The voice laughed, "I see you're collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds like I suggested."

Shadow retorted, "I'm not doing it for you. I'm only borrowing these two Emeralds from Rouge. I'm going to give them back as soon as I'm done with Metal Shadow."

The voice continued, "Don't be a fool, Shadow. You've got four of the seven Emeralds in your possession right now, and you're on your way to fight the person with the other three."

Shadow said, "You're a very annoying voice in the back of my head. I'd like to know how exactly a voice such as yourself would come to be in a head like mine."

The voice snickered, "That story will come in due time, Shadow. In the meantime, I'd be more concerned about that warning I gave you. It's still coming for you, you know. The powerful monster I mentioned last night. It's hunting you down right now, and it won't stop haunting you with that dark feeling until you've been erased from existence."

Shadow asked, "And just why exactly do you want to help me?"

The voice answered, "I told you before, Shadow. I'm your friend."

Shadow demanded, "Prove it."

The voice chuckled, "Alright, look behind you." Shadow stopped in his tracks and turned around. He saw Metal Shadow.


	15. Sonic's Friends

Amy and Big looked at Silver the Hedgehog. They were awestruck by his ability to destroy all of those Egg Pawns with one attack. Silver looked at Amy. "Where am I?"

Amy said, "Um, you're in a field north of Central City. Why do you ask?"

Silver ignored her question. "Central City? Wait. Were those robots built by Dr. Robotnik?"

Amy said, "Yeah… I thought that was obvious since they came from the rubble of Eggman's airship. He builds all of his robots."

Silver mumbled to himself, "That must mean…" He addressed Amy, "Do you by any chance know someone by the name of Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Amy exclaimed, "Yeah! He's my future husband! Do you know where he is?"

Silver said, "That must mean I'm in the past."

Big scratched his head. The tabby cat struggled to keep up with what Silver was saying. Amy stood in front of Silver and asked demandingly, "What do you mean 'in the past'? Who are you really? How did you destroy those robots, and how do you know my Sonic?"

Silver started to explain, "Sorry, I had to be sure before I started explaining things. Like I said before, my name is Silver the Hedgehog. I'm psychokinetic; that means I can move objects with my mind, and I'm from the future. I've been to this time before. Last time I was here, Sonic helped me rid a theme park of some meddlesome robots that were constructed by that vile Dr. Robotnik."

Big gawked, "Wow, you're from the future. Is it nice?"

Silver chuckled, "It's very nice. It's even sweeter than this time." Silver looked back at Amy. "Now, since you keep asking me questions, I'd like to know who you are."

Amy apologized, "Sorry, I'm Amy Rose, but I'll be Amy the Hedgehog after I marry Sonic."

Big said, "I'm Big the Cat. I'm Sonic and Amy's friend."

Silver shook Amy's hand and then Big's. He said, "It's a pleasure to meet both of you."

Amy asked, "Silver, how did you get to our time?"

Silver hesitated, "I was sort of hoping you could tell me. I've honestly got no clue. I was just walking around a lovely meadow. Then everything went black, and then I woke up to find myself buried in this scrap metal. What is all of this metal, anyway? Are we at a junkyard or something?"

Amy shook her head. "No, this is the wreckage of Eggman's newest airship. It just crashed. We were honestly about to leave when we came across you."

Silver asked, "Really? Where were you going?"

Big said, "We're looking for Sonic and my friend Froggy."

Silver offered, "Well, maybe I can help. Do you have any idea where they might be?"

Amy sighed, "They were on this ship, but Shadow used Chaos Control to teleport them away before the ship crashed."

Silver pondered, "Shadow, huh? I remember him! He helped me defeat my archenemy, Eggman Nega!"

Amy wondered, "You're archenemy's name is Eggman Nega? That sounds a lot like Sonic's archenemy, Dr. Eggman."

Silver chuckled, "I know what you mean. They look a lot alike too. I think they must be related somehow. Anyway, if my memory serves, Shadow can't use Chaos Control to teleport very far, so they have to be near here somewhere."

Big thought aloud, "If only we knew where Shadow would send them…"

Silver pondered again. Then he asked, "Didn't you say that we were north of some city or another?"

Amy exclaimed, "That's right! We can't be far from Central City now! I bet that's where Shadow teleported them!"

Silver shrugged. "It's worth a shot." The trio ran south toward Central City.

The group continued southward for five minutes. Then Amy, Big, and Silver saw Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Vector, Cream, and Cheese heading in their direction. Amy's face turned into an ecstatic smile. She yelled, "Sonic!"

Sonic's face turned into a panicked gawk. He yelled, "Amy?" Sonic skidded to a stop, but Amy kept running and tackled him with an enormous hug. Silver and Big stopped running, and Cream and Cheese gave Big a gigantic hug as well.

Silver chuckled, "What do you know? Sonic was headed in this direction."

Big asked Cream, "What are you doing here?"

Cream looked up at Big and said, "Eggman built a time machine powered by the Master Emerald. He plans to use it to go back in time and prevent Sonic from ever being born. We're on our way to stop him!"

Vector looked at Silver. "I know you! You're that hedgehog from the future who teamed up with my subordinate Espio to fight that white-mustached lunatic."

Silver said, "That's right. Espio was a charming fellow. I rather enjoyed working with him."

Knuckles and Tails also recognized Silver from that same adventure. Knuckles asked him, "So what brings you to our little part of the timeline?"

Silver says, "I don't know. One minute, I'm enjoying a nice stroll through a beautiful meadow. The next, I'm buried under the rubble of Dr. Robotnik's crashed airship."

Sonic finally managed to pry Amy off of him. The blue hero gasped for air. He told Amy, "Amy! I don't have time for this! I have to go stop Eggman!"

Silver looked at Sonic. "Is that how you talk to your fiancée?"

Sonic screamed, "What! We're not—! She isn't—! I'm not—"

Amy chuckled and blushed a little, "Yeah, Sonic, that's no way to talk to your fiancée."

Sonic's voice cracked as he yelled, "I'm not your fiancé! I only took you on that one date! I never asked you to marry me!"

Silver looked at Sonic apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry. Amy had me under the impression that the two of you were engaged. I believe she called you her future husband."

Sonic scowled at Amy. Amy blushed more and feigned a laugh in embarrassment, "Tee-he, it must have slipped off my tongue. Oh well, I say we go with it." Sonic screamed, and Amy gave him another strangulating hug. Sonic struggled for freedom to no avail.

Right now, Cream and Cheese were the only two in the group who had not yet met Silver. The shy rabbit approached the silver-grey hedgehog. "Um, excuse me, Mister, but can I ask you your name?"

Silver chuckled, "Sure thing, I'm Silver the Hedgehog. What's your name?"

Cream said, "I'm Cream the Rabbit, and this is my friend Cheese the Chao."

Silver shook their hands and smiled politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Cream."

Cream blushed. "Wow, no one's ever called me 'Ms. Cream' before."

Silver laughed, "Well, you'll never be able to say that again."

Knuckles sighed, "All of this is touching and all, but we really need to be going. Has everyone forgotten that we need to stop Eggman from erasing Sonic from the timeline?"

Sonic still struggled to get away from Amy's grip. "No, I haven't forgotten," the blue hedgehog panted, "but I'm having a hard time getting away from her!"

Vector suggested, "Then let's take her with us."

Sonic stopped struggling and yelled, "What! You're kidding, right?"

Tails said, "That's a great idea, Vector. Let's take all three of them. We could really use their help."

Amy cheered, "I'd love to come! There's no way I'm going to sit back idly while Eggman tries to erase my Sonic from existence."

Big affirmed, "Eggman still has my Froggy. I need to rescue my friend!"

Silver said, "I want to help too. My timeline has been significantly connected to yours, so who knows what might happen to my future if Sonic is erased from your past!"

Knuckles said, "It's agreed then. The eight of us—"

Cheese interjected with a loud, "Cho!"

Knuckles continued, "Sorry—nine of us will team up to stop Eggman."

Tails spoke to Silver, Amy, and Big, "Just so you guys know, Dr. Eggman has Metal Sonic and Metal Shadow with him. I'm sorry, Amy, but we'll have to fight Metal Sonic to get to that machine."

Amy said without hesitation, "I won't object."

Tails continued, "Good, there's something else you should know. Make sure you don't destroy the time machine once it's been turned on. There's no telling what could happen if all of the energy it uses gets released. We have to destroy it before it's activated."

Silver, Big, and Amy all nodded and said, "Right."

Sonic said, "Alright, now let's get going! I'd like to stop Eggman before I'm erased from existence if that's okay with you guys!"


	16. The Battle Begins

Sonic and company ran toward the rubble of the Egg Narwhal in a V formation. Sonic took the point position. Silver was to his right, and Amy was to his left. Cream and Cheese were to the left of Amy, and Big was to the left of Cream. Knuckles was to the right of Silver; Tails was to the right of Knuckles, and Vector was to the right of Tails.

The group reached the rubble of the Egg Narwhal's head, and they saw Dr. Eggman in the distance on his personal flying carrier, the Egg Mobile. The massive time machine was behind Eggman, and Cubot, Orbot, and Metal Sonic were below him, but there was no sign of Metal Shadow.

Sonic's team came to a halt as they approached Dr. Eggman and his minions. Dr. Eggman chuckled evilly, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog, and it appears that he's brought some of his little friends along to witness his last few moments of existence."

Sonic shouted, "Your plans will fail, Eggman! They always do, and I'm always the one doing the failing!" There was an awkward silence. Sonic looked down. "Wait. That came out wrong."

Silver whispered to Sonic, "Um, do you mean that his plans are always foiled, and you're always the one doing the foiling?"

Sonic yelled, "Yeah! That's it! Your plans will be foiled, Eggman! They always are, and I'm always the one doing the foiling!"

Silver chuckled. Dr. Eggman sighed in annoyance. Big looked over at Orbot. "Wait a minute. You're the robot who kidnapped my Froggy!"

Orbot said, "Oh dear."

Dr. Eggman shouted, "Enough chitchat! It's time I erased you for good!" Metal Sonic activated the laser gun in his left arm and switched it to rapid-fire mode. Sonic's team braced themselves, but to their surprise, the blue robot turned around and blasted Eggman's time machine. The colossal mechanism erupted into a vast series of explosions, and Metal Sonic ceased fire. Eggman looked down at Metal Sonic and screamed, "What are you doing?"

Metal Sonic looked up at Eggman. "I am following my programming."

Eggman yelled, "You are programmed to serve me and do as I tell you!"

Metal Sonic responded, "That is correct."

The mad doctor was infuriated, "I don't remember telling you to destroy my time machine! How on earth are you following your programming?"

Metal Sonic explained, "My primary directive is to serve you to the best of my ability. When you revealed your desire to erase Sonic from the timeline, I began to ponder that subject. Finally, I reached a conclusion: Since I am based on data gathered from Sonic, if he were never born, I would never have been constructed. I cannot serve you to the best of my ability if I am nonexistent. Therefore, my primary directive is to prevent you from erasing Sonic from the timeline."

Eggman's right eye twitched in frustration. He screamed, "Fine! If you want to serve me so much—"

The mad doctor pulled a lever in his Egg Mobile. A robotic voice announced, "Massive emergency defense protocol activated." An army of Egg Pawns began to rise from the rubble of Eggman's airship. Their assorted damages began to repair themselves, and their eyes glowed red. The army had Sonic's team surrounded.

Dr. Eggman pointed at Sonic and his friends. "Kill them all!"

Sonic's team split up, and they each began fighting Egg Pawns. Silver used his psychokinetic powers to smash one Egg Pawn into several others. Amy bashed a number of Egg Pawns to pieces with her Piko Piko Hammer. Cream directed Cheese to rocket through one Egg Pawn after another. Tails curled into a ball and jumped into Vector's hands. Vector threw the young fox at a group of Egg Pawns in order to smash them with an enhanced Spin Attack. Big used the spiked ball at the end of his fishing pole to clear a path toward Orbot. Sonic jumped directly toward Dr. Eggman. Knuckles punched past a number of Egg Pawns and ran toward Metal Sonic. "You're mine!" the powerful echidna yelled at the blue robot.

Metal Sonic's laser gun was still on rapid-fire, and he shot a barrage of red lasers at Knuckles. Knuckles skillfully dodged all of them and closed in on his target. He punched at Metal Sonic, but the robot dodged from side to side. Metal Sonic blocked one of Knuckles's punches, and he punched back at Knuckles, but Knuckles blocked it. Knuckles grabbed both of Metal Sonic's wrists and lifted him into the air. Knuckles then smacked Metal Sonic into the ground, which dented into a small crater. Metal Sonic's automatic repair system fixed his damages.

Meanwhile, Big pounced on Orbot and grabbed his throat. Cubot tried to tackle the massive tabby, but Big grabbed him as well and smashed him into the ground. Orbot screamed, "Cubot! Are you okay?"

Cubot said, "I reckon that hurt a bit," and he powered down.

Orbot looked in fear at Big. Big pulled Orbot's face up to his and demanded frightfully, "Where is Froggy?"

Orbot said, "I don't know! He was with Metal Shadow, but Metal Shadow went off on his own, and—"

Big cut off the red robot, "Find him!"

Orbot wailed in fear. He activated the scanners in his eyes and began searching the area for Metal Shadow. After a few seconds, he found the black robot. Orbot pointed to the west. "He's over that way!"

Big threw Orbot against the broken time machine and yelled, "I'm coming, Froggy!" Big ran westward as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, after Sonic jumped toward Eggman, the blue hero curled himself into a ball and locked on to Eggman's location. He rocketed toward Eggman midair, and he directly hit the Egg Mobile, causing the small carrier to spin out of control for a moment. Eggman said, "Why you little!" The mad doctor pressed a red button on his carrier, and two laser guns extended from the front. The guns shot a hailstorm of lasers at Sonic, but the heroic speedster dodged the lasers effectively.

Sonic yelled to Silver, "Silver! Give me a lift!"

Silver yelled back, "I'm on it!" A piece of scrap metal near Sonic glowed blue with Silver's psychokinetic energy. Sonic jumped onto the scrap, and the piece of metal acted like an elevator to carry Sonic toward Eggman. Of course, Eggman did not stop firing his lasers at Sonic. Vector looked up at the Egg Mobile. The muscular crocodile picked up another piece of scrap metal, and he threw it at Dr. Eggman's carrier. Dr. Eggman was too busy firing at Sonic, so he remained oblivious to the hunk of metal until it hit is Egg Mobile and knocked out his laser guns. Sonic jumped off of his custom elevator toward Eggman. Eggman panicked and moved his Egg Carrier backward at high speed to dodge Sonic.

All the while, Knuckles was continuing his melee against Metal Sonic. However, neither combatant was able to gain the upper hand. Knuckles gloated while punching at Metal Sonic, "You only beat me on Angel Island because you had Metal Shadow helping you, and you took me by surprise! You stole my Master Emerald, and now I'm going to take it back!"

Metal Sonic's scanners noticed an opening in Knuckles's defenses near his abdomen. The blue robot took advantage of the opening and punched Knuckles in the gut. The wind was knocked out of the red echidna. Now, it was Metal Sonic's turn to gloat. "I already destroyed Metal Knuckles. My fight against the original Knuckles shall end no differently." Metal Sonic's sensors detected something, and his eyes widened. He scoffed at Knuckles, "Another day, Echidna."

Metal Sonic flew away from Knuckles. Knuckles shook his fist at Metal Sonic and yelled, "Get back here, Metal Coward!"


	17. Shadows Collide

Shadow turned around to face his metal doppelganger. The black hero continued to juggle his four Chaos Emeralds in his left hand. Shadow mumbled to the voice in the back of his head, "How does this prove anything?"

The voice did not answer, but Metal Shadow's acute sound detectors overheard Shadow. "You're talking to yourself. Could it be that your fear has driven you mad already?"

Shadow looked back at Metal Shadow. "Oh, I'm mad alright."

Metal Shadow chuckled robotically, "Then perhaps I should knock some sense into you."

Shadow remained humorless. "Listen, Metal Shadow. I've had an extremely bad day, and you really don't want to piss me off. I'll give you one chance to back down."

Metal Shadow armed a laser gun in his left arm and fired it at Shadow. Shadow dodged the blast without dropping any of his Chaos Emeralds, and the powerful laser disintegrated the ground where Shadow had been standing. Metal Shadow bragged, "My lasers are the most powerful out of all of Eggman's robots."

Shadow clenched his free fist and stared angrily at Metal Shadow. "You just pissed me off." Shadow tightened his left hand around the green Chaos Emerald he had been juggling, and he shouted, "Chaos Control!" In a flash of green light, Shadow and his Chaos Emeralds disappeared and reappeared behind Metal Shadow. Shadow punched at the robot while his other three Emeralds were still midair. Metal Shadow revealed the yellow, cyan, and blue Chaos Emeralds embedded in his right arm, and he disappeared in a flash of green light to dodge Shadow's punch. The black robot reappeared behind his organic counterpart, and he used his left hand to grab the falling red Chaos Emerald. Shadow used his right hand and teeth to secure the silver and violet Chaos Emeralds, respectively, and he jumped back to dodge a laser shot from Metal Shadow's left arm. Shadow cursed through the Emerald in his teeth, "Damn it! Now he's got four Emeralds!"

Metal Shadow asked Shadow, "Are you afraid yet?"

Shadow chuckled, "Not even close. Maybe now that you have more Emeralds than I do, this might actually be a fair fight!"

Metal Shadow insulted, "You miserable carbon sack, I'll show you fear!" The three Chaos Emeralds in the robot's right arm began to glow, and Metal Shadow's right arm transformed into a long gun. He pointed the gun at Shadow, and the gun's barrel started to rotate. The inside of the gun glowed, and Metal Shadow shouted, "Enhanced Chaos Cannon!"

Metal Shadow fired a giant beam of chaos energy that shined three different colors: yellow, blue, and cyan. The three colors of energy spun around each other. The massive laser continued until it reached Shadow, who only managed to exclaim, "Not good," before it exploded into a flurry of sparkling chaos. There was a mushroom cloud of smoke and dust where Shadow once stood.

The black robot approached the smoke cloud. Metal Shadow's long gun transformed back into his right arm. The robot said, "So much for the ultimate life-form. He turned out to be quite the pushover. I was really hoping for more of a challenge. Oh well, I suppose his false pride finally reached its limit. "

A green light flashed behind Metal Shadow, whose eyes widened in surprise. He turned his head to see Shadow kicking the red Chaos Emerald from his left hand. Metal Shadow tried to punch Shadow with his right hand, but Shadow kicked him in the chest to send him sliding across the ground. Metal Shadow shouted, "How did you survive that blast? There's no way your flesh could withstand such an attack! You should be disintegrated!"

Shadow chuckled arrogantly as he juggled the green, silver, and violet Chaos Emeralds in his left hand, "Next time you shoot your ultimate attack at your opponent, try to use something that doesn't scream, 'Dodge me.' All I had to do was lay low and make you think I was dead, so you'd let your guard down. I'm lucky that you were dumb enough to fall for my trick." Metal Shadow scowled in frustration at Shadow.

The red Chaos Emerald fell down toward the space exactly between Shadow and his robotic counterpart. Both warriors dashed at full speed to catch the falling Emerald. They both said, "Chaos…" as they charged their energy while dashing at the Emerald. The two Shadows simultaneously grabbed the crimson Emerald with their right hands. "Blast!"


	18. Amy Blossoms

While Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Vector, and Silver were fighting Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic, Amy and Cream's battle against Eggman's ridiculously massive army of Egg Pawns had led them away from the rest of the crowd. Amy was panting from smashing so many robots, and Cheese was starting to tire as well.

Luckily, the crowd of Egg Pawns around them was also starting to die down. There were only six Egg Pawns left standing. The six robots all fired their laser guns at Amy, Cream, and Cheese. Amy stood in front of Cream and Cheese and spun her Piko Piko Hammer to block all six of the lasers. Cream directed Cheese toward the robot to the far right, and the Chao rocketed toward it. Cheese tore a hole straight through the robot upon impact, and Cream jumped into the air. Cream used her ears to glide, and Amy jumped up to grab a hold of Cream's right ankle. The left three of the remaining Egg Pawns fired their lasers at Cream and Amy, but Cream moved to the side and swung Amy to dodge. The two Egg Pawns on the right fired their lasers at Cheese, but Cheese was able to skillfully avoid the attacks. Cream flipped midair, and Amy let go of her ankle. The combined motion sent Amy flying down toward all five of the Egg Pawns. The pink hedgehog curled herself into a ball and hit the central Egg Pawn to destroy it. Remaining curled in a ball, she bounced off of the destroyed Egg Pawn and rocketed into the one to her left. After that, the next one to her left tried to fire a laser at her, but Amy uncurled herself and smashed the robot with her hammer. Cream landed on the rightmost of the two remaining robots with a severe stomp that flattened it into the ground. The single remaining robot pointed its gun at Cream, but Cheese rammed through it from behind, and it exploded.

Amy and Cheese panted from exhaustion, but they had finally destroyed every Egg Pawn in the area. Cream had not fought as much as her two best friends, but she too was relieved that the danger had passed. "Alright," Amy panted, "let's get back to Sonic and the others. They're probably still fighting Eggman and Metal."

Cream looked at Cheese and asked, "Are you up for it, Cheese?"

Cheese stopped panting for a moment, and she nodded. "Cho!"

Cream looked back at Amy. "We're in."

Meanwhile, a bystander observed the battle with robotic vision. The robot observed, "Conflict with Eggman's robots detected. Initiate emergency self-start program." The self-start program, however, was more complicated than it sounded. Right now, the robot was in a low power state, and it was not draining much energy from the wires to which it was connected. Normally, the self-start program would have put the robot immediately in high power mode, and it would drain energy from its wires at maximum speed. However, because the Egg Narwhal had crashed, only a few of the dozens of wires to which it had been connected were still linked to any actual energy source, so it took much longer for the robot to revert to its high power state.

It took time, but there was just enough energy left in the power sources connected to the robot for it to reach a high power state. When it did, it wasted no time bursting out of its test tube and through the rubble that separated it from the outside world.

Amy and Cream were startled by the appearance of this newcomer. It was a robotic doppelganger of Sonic, but it looked nothing like Metal Sonic. This robot was completely silver in color instead of blue, and its metal quills were in the same style as the real Sonic's. Its eyes were yellow near the robot's nose, but the color faded to orange further away. Across its eyes were black lines in a grid-like pattern. Most noticeably, this robot was about six and half feet tall, approximately twice the height of the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

The robot looked at the surprised girls. Its eyes identified Amy, "Subject: Amy Rose. Species: hedgehog. Classification: enemy. Threat level: moderate." Then it identified Cream. "Subject: Cream the Rabbit. Species: rabbit. Classification: enemy. Threat level: minimal." Lastly, it identified Cheese. "Subject: Cheese the Chao. Species: Chao. Classification: enemy. Threat level: minimal."

Amy was still in a state of shock. "What is that? Is it one of Metal Sonic's many prototypes?"

The silver robot spoke, "Introduction: I am Silver Sonic II. I was created and programmed by the great and evil Dr. Eggman Robotnik for the sole purpose of destroying Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends."

Cream said, "He doesn't seem as advanced as Metal Sonic, but he's a lot bigger, and he still seems very powerful."

Amy was still tired, but she did not show it upon being confronted by this new enemy. She looked back toward Cream and Cheese. "Get out of here! This guy is too powerful for you!"

Cream was offended. "No way! There's no way I'm leaving you alone to fight him by—"

A silver blur skidded across the wreckage-filled ground and startled Cream. Cream saw that Silver Sonic II was already in front of her, and Amy was using her Piko Piko Hammer to block a punch that was intended for Cream. Amy looked back at Cream again. "Get out!"

Cream then realized how little chance she stood against Silver Sonic II. This new robot was much faster and stronger than she. The timid rabbit simply nodded before running off with Cheese following shortly behind her.

As Cream and Cheese left the area, Silver Sonic II continued to press against Amy's hammer with its right fist. Amy held both of her hands on her hammer as she struggled to keep the silver robot's attack at bay. Then, Silver Sonic II pulled back its left fist in preparation for another attack on the pink hedgehog. Amy jumped backward to swiftly dodge the robot's punch, which easily crushed the ground after missing Amy. Silver Sonic II ignored Cream and Cheese. It charged Amy again with another high-velocity assault. This time, Amy dodged by jumping onto a portion of a wall which had survived the crash. Again, Silver Sonic II crushed the ground where Amy had stood. Silver Sonic II looked up at Amy. It observed, "Subject's speed exceeds that listed in my database." The robot paused momentarily before adding, "Updating database to match subject's current speed."

Silver Sonic II curled itself into a massive, silver ball with deadly spikes. It rolled in place for a few seconds to build up speed, and then it dashed toward Amy. This was the fastest Silver Sonic II had moved so far, and Amy just barely managed to jump out of the way this time. Silver Sonic II smashed through the section of the metal wall on which Amy had been standing a moment earlier. _He's too fast,_ Amy thought. _I'll never beat him if I just keep dodging. There's got to be a way that I can use his speed against him._ Just as she thought those words, an idea formed in her mind. The answer was so obvious that it was almost comical. The robot was fast, but it lacked control, and it could not turn easily. Therefore, Silver Sonic II's speed occurred in short bursts and in straight lines. The silver doppelganger's upper body was built to withstand the blunt of the force when it came to a sudden stop in the form of an attack, but if a different part of the machine's body came to an unexpected halt, it would be thrown completely off balance and become vulnerable.

Silver Sonic II uncurled itself. It noted that Amy was tiring. The pink hedgehog had just finished fighting a horde of Egg Pawns, and now she had to dart at full speed just to avoid being crushed. Mostly, her adrenaline was doing the dodging for her, but her muscles still felt closer and closer to the point of collapsing in exhaustion with each movement of her body. All it would take was a few more of Silver Sonic II's quick, unpredictable attacks. When her muscles grew fatigued enough, they would fail to follow her brain's orders; they would make some careless mistake that would spell Amy's demise. Silver Sonic II intended to take advantage of that. The silver robot dashed toward Amy again at full speed, but the metallic hedgehog had not predicted what Amy would do next; Silver Sonic II was doing exactly what she wanted. Amy moved slightly to the right, and she held out her hammer to block the path of the massive machine's unpainted legs. Her plan worked flawlessly. Silver Sonic II tripped. The large robot flipped completely forward. It turned around midair to face Amy again, and it landed on its feet in an attempt to recover its balance, but it had not lost the trajectory it had gained by charging toward Amy, and Silver Sonic II was skidding backward across the ground.

This was the opening in the robot's defenses for which Amy had prayed. She leaped up to Silver Sonic II's face, and she bashed the robot's left cheek with her Piko Piko Hammer. The robot flinched. Amy spun full circle like a tornado and hit Silver Sonic II's left cheek again, and the robot was knocked entirely off balance. She completed the process by kicking Silver Sonic II in the chest with both of her feet. Silver Sonic II fell on its back with Amy standing on its chest. The pink hedgehog jumped into the air and raised her Piko Piko Hammer above her head. She let out a yell as she landed back on Silver Sonic II and swung the yellow mallet into the silver robot's forehead. However, Silver Sonic II was unfazed by the attack. The robot's tough, unpainted armor completely repelled the attack, and Amy's efforts were rendered useless.

Silver Sonic II knocked Amy off of its chest. The metal juggernaut rose to its feet robotically, and it backhanded Amy across her left cheek. Amy was sent flying backward. Amy landed on her feet, and she saw Silver Sonic II dashing toward her with the same high velocity he had used to crush everything in his path. She ordered her muscles to dodge, but she was too exhausted. Her last attack was all her fatigued body could muster, and now it was ready to collapse at last. It did collapse, but not from exhaustion, from pain. Silver Sonic II's punch connected directly with Amy's stomach. She was held midair for a moment by the massive machine's fist, but then gravity took hold of her body and pulled her back to the ground, back to Earth, back from the fantasy that she could have defeated this juggernaut and helped save her sweet Sonic. She remembered.

As Amy lay on the ground, she looked up and saw Silver Sonic II leaving her. It apparently did not see her worthy of death by its hands. Sonic was off fighting now. He was risking his life not only to preserve his own existence, but to stay alive for those he loved and who loved him in return. Sonic was fighting Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman. The blue hero always had a hard time defeating the two without the Chaos Emeralds, and now that Silver Sonic II was about to join the fight, Amy was unsure if Sonic could really fight all three of them at once. If he tried, he might… Amy refused to let that thought continue. _His friends will help him fight Silver Sonic II,_ Amy thought. However, if Amy was unable to defeat this new robot, then it was very likely that the others would get hurt if they fought him too. Sonic would get hurt. Amy would not allow this.

Her adrenaline was gone. It no longer helped her muscles move. Every muscle in the pink hedgehog's body demanded that she lie down, but her muscles were not moving her body now. Her love for Sonic was moving her body. Her love for Sonic was pulling her back away from the Earth, back to the fantasy that she could defeat Silver Sonic II. Amy stood up. She gripped her hammer firmly in an unusual way in her right hand. She held the hammer by the part of the handle right next to the hammer's head. She pointed the handle at Silver Sonic II. For a moment, the massive doppelganger made Amy think about Metal Sonic. She understood a little more what the blue robot had told her about his directive, his objective, his programming. Now, she had her directive, and it was exactly reverse of Silver Sonic II's directive. She was programmed by fate for the sole purpose of protecting Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. Amy's directive pulled her forward. It forced her to move when she could not move. She ran at full speed toward the silver juggernaut, whose back was still turned to her. Silver Sonic II heard her footsteps and turned around. Amy jumped into the air and thrust the handle of her hammer into the robot's right eye. The handle shattered the glass of the robot's grid-like eye, and it proceeded into the robot's head until it went all the way through the back of its skull. Silver Sonic II's armor was dense on the outside, but it was fragile on the inside. Amy smiled for a moment as she was again reminded of Metal Sonic. The smile broke when Silver Sonic II backhanded her left cheek again and sent her flying back to the ground.

Amy's Piko Piko Hammer was still jammed through Silver Sonic II's head. It announced, "Malfunction in right visual sensor detected. Engage automatic repair system." Though the system struggled to repair Silver Sonic II's eye, the handle jammed through the robot's head prevented it from making any real progress. The area around the handle was rebuilt, but the eye remained useless. The metal juggernaut announced, "Automatic repair system malfunction detected."

As Amy lay on the ground slipping into unconsciousness, she could not help but snicker at the dumb robot's helplessness. Silver Sonic II was nothing like Metal Sonic. The two were not even in the same category. Metal Sonic was faster, more coordinated. He could predict his enemy's movements and plans. He could even make complex plans of his own. He could analyze orders down the letter and morph the words of his master to suit his liking. Whether he admitted it or not, Metal Sonic had a sense of self-preservation. Although he claimed it was solely to continue serving Eggman to the best of his ability, and he denied being alive in the first place, Amy knew Metal Sonic wanted to live. This was the biggest difference between Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic II. Metal Sonic could think for himself.

Amy's vision began to blur, but she could see the huge, silver figure of Silver Sonic II lumbering toward her with the yellow hammer still jammed into his head. The robot regretted turning its back on Amy before, and now it was going to finish her off. Amy was not afraid. Somehow, she was content. She closed her eyes and waited for her life to end.

Amy opened her eyes. Her eyesight was still blurry, but she could still see the image of a blue hedgehog directly in front of her. The hero was standing protectively between Silver Sonic II and Amy. She smiled. Sonic had come to save her. Amy reached out her hand to grab Sonic's ankle to let him know that she was still conscious. However, when she grabbed the ankle, she did not feel the warmth of Sonic's soft fur. She felt the cold chill of hard metal.

Amy blinked and squinted to fight the blurriness clouding her vision. She nearly gasped, but she was too weak. The blue hero who had arrived to protect her was Metal Sonic.


	19. The Battle Continues

Even though Big, Amy, Cream, and Cheese had wandered from the battlefield, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Vector, and Silver continued to pummel every Egg Pawn they could see. To put it bluntly, the battle was a piece of cake. Sonic and his friends were experienced in fighting Eggman's robots, so they had practically no trouble destroying even this number of them. Silver's psychokinetic abilities made the battle especially shorter. He could effortlessly send the Egg Pawns flying into each other, and he used them as shields against their comrades' laser guns. After the fighting had continued for a few minutes, Silver and Sonic stood back to back. Sonic looked around before asking Silver, "Where are Amy, Cream, and Big?"

Silver sent a piece of metal rubble flying through a group of Egg Pawns before answering, "Big smashed Cubot and interrogated Orbot into telling him where Froggy is. Orbot said that Froggy was with Metal Shadow, who's out west of here somewhere, so Big went looking for him."

Sonic kicked an Egg Pawn that came toward him and sent the robot flying into another one of the orange infantry. He asked Silver, "Do you think Big can handle Metal Faker by himself?"

Silver shook his head. "I don't know Big very well, and I've never met Metal Shadow, so I can't really say for certain." Silver paused for a moment. "Metal Faker?"

Sonic laughed, "Yeah, Shadow and I call each other, 'Faker,' so Metal Shadow is Metal Faker."

Silver laughed along, "That's a good one." Silver quit laughing and asked, "Do you think Big can handle," Silver held back a chuckle, "Metal Faker?"

Sonic said, "Well, I think Metal Faker went looking for the original faker, who can't be very far from here, so Metal Faker will probably find him before too long. If that's the case, then the real faker will probably be done destroying Metal Faker by the time Big gets to him."

Silver chuckled, "That sounds pretty accurate."

Sonic asked, "What about Cream and Amy? You never mentioned where they went."

Silver used his psychokinetic powers to send two Egg Pawns crashing into each other. Then he said, "I think they wandered off while they were fighting these robots."

Sonic nodded. "They'll be fine as long as they have each other."

Silver asked, "Did you notice that Metal Sonic left too?"

Sonic seemed a little shocked. "Seriously? He's never walked away from a fight with us."

Silver added, "He sparred with Knuckles for a minute, and then he just flew away through the crowd. I don't think anyone noticed except Knuckles and me."

Sonic chuckled, "You have really good eyes."

Silver chuckled back, "When you're psychokinetic, you have to notice the little things because every single detail could be what saves your life."

Sonic said, "Then I'm glad I'm not psychokinetic. I prefer to just handle situations as they come along and follow my gut." He gave Silver a smile.

Silver smiled back and responded, "Yeah, I do a lot of that too."

Needless to say, the crowd of Egg Pawns was substantially decreasing in mass. It had withered down from an army of several hundred to a mob of a few dozen. Even while Silver and Sonic were conversing, Knuckles and Vector were demolishing the Egg Pawns. Tails was not doing as much fighting personally, but he acted as backup for both Knuckles and Vector at different times. Dr. Eggman and Orbot were watching the battle from the Egg Mobile, which was now high in the air. Orbot held Cubot's partially crushed body in his arms. The evil doctor had ascended to higher altitude after Sonic tried to attack Eggman personally at the start of the conflict. Now that the mass of Egg Pawns was much smaller, Dr. Eggman noticed that Metal Sonic was gone. "Where did Metal Sonic go?" he asked Orbot.

Orbot answered, "I'm not sure, Sir. I honestly did not even notice that he had left. It must have been near the beginning of the battle after that dreadful tabby smashed Cubot. You can fix him, can't you?"

Dr. Eggman shot, "Of course I can, you dunce!" He sighed, "Great, first Metal Shadow leaves, and now Metal Sonic is gone too! What am I going to do with those blasted Metals?"

Orbot answered, "Well, Amy and Cream are gone as well. Perhaps Metal Sonic left to combat them, and Metal Shadow is probably off trying to find Shadow."

Dr. Eggman yelled, "We wouldn't even be having this battle if Metal Sonic hadn't destroyed my time machine in the first place!" Eggman looked down at the dwindling mass of Egg Pawns. "Things aren't looking good. We need to do something quickly." The mad doctor looked back toward Orbot. "Can you contact Metal Sonic?"

Orbot was still for a moment as he called Metal Sonic's internal communicator. Then he answered, "No, it appears that both Metals have shut off their communication systems."

Dr. Eggman sighed again, "That figures. Well, then I guess I don't have much choice."

Meanwhile, Sonic and company had finally destroyed almost all of the robots. Now, there were only thirteen Egg Pawns left, and the five heroes had them surrounded. Sonic shouted to Knuckles and Vector, "Let me handle this! I have an idea!" Sonic whispered something to Silver, and then he asked, "Do you like it? I call it the 'Psycho Spinner.' I came up with the name just now."

Silver chuckled and nodded in approval. "I'm the psycho, and you're the spinner."

Sonic dashed around the thirteen remaining Egg Pawns at full speed. The robots tried to lock onto Sonic in order to fire their laser guns at him, but the blue hero was moving too quickly for them to keep up. Soon, Sonic appeared to be nothing but a blurry, blue ring around the robots, and then a small, blue tornado started to circle around the Egg Pawns. The orange infantry units were lifted helplessly into the air by the blue wind. Silver glowed with psychokinetic energy, and he used his abilities to lift up two large, flat pieces of metal rubble. Then, Sonic stopped running. His speed was no longer needed. The blue cyclone was already spinning without his assistance. Silver smashed the thirteen robots between the two pieces of rubble like a metal sandwich. Silver relaxed his concentration, and the metal sandwich fell to the ground before falling apart.

Dr. Eggman announced through a megaphone, "Bravo, Sonic, Silver, Tails, Knuckles, and even Vector, you've all done exceptionally well."

Vector shouted a retort, "What do you mean 'even' me?"

Dr. Eggman ignored him. "However, I'm afraid that this little show has come to an end."

Sonic yelled, "Duh! We've destroyed all of your robots. Of course it's come to an end!"

Again, Dr. Eggman ignored the snide comment, and he held out a small remote with a red button. "When I press this button, my time machine will self-destruct in an explosion that will cover an entire kilometer at least!" This time, nobody had a snide remark. Dr. Eggman said, "This entire area will be destroyed. I will be safe behind my Egg Mobile's explosion-proof force field, but how will you escape? Sure, Sonic, you're fast enough to outrun an explosion without any problems, but are your friends just as fast?"

Sonic's eyes widened. He looked at Knuckles, Tails, Vector, and Silver. They were not fast enough to outrun an explosion of that size. Sonic said to his friends, "I can carry Tails on my back, and I can pull two more of you by your wrists, but even if someone else grabbed on, I don't know if I can outrun the explosion while carrying all four of…" Sonic's voice trailed off.

His friends looked at one another. Vector said, "Then I'll stay behind."

Silver said more sternly, "No, I'll do it."

Vector looked at the futuristic hedgehog, "No way! I'm the adult here! I'll act like one!"

Silver retorted, "Don't argue with me! There's no time!"

Tails protested, "But, Silver, you're from the future. Technically, you haven't even been born yet. If you die now, there's a chance you could be erased from the timeline!"

Silver assured, "I'll be fine. There's plenty of metal around here. I can put a barrier around myself, and—"

Tails was on Sonic's back. Sonic grabbed Knuckles's and Vector's wrists, and Vector was about to grab Silver while he was still talking, but Silver used his psychokinetic powers to push all of them away from him. Vector, Sonic, and Tails yelled, "No!" but Silver raised a piece of scrap metal between him and his friends. Dr. Eggman pushed the button. His broken time machine exploded. There was no time to go back for Silver. Sonic ran.

Silver was raising as many metal walls as he could to protect himself from the explosion. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, and each instant felt like seconds. Out of the corner of his eye, Silver saw another figure in the explosion's path. It was a small, peach-colored child with long, floppy ears and a blue Chao at her side. It was Cream. In the instant it took for the explosion to reach his barrier, Silver dropped his focus and jumped toward the young rabbit. The silver hero threw himself between Cream and the explosion.

 


	20. Voice of the Past

When Shadow's Chaos Blast collided with Metal Shadow's, both attacks were drawing power from four of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Shadow was drawing power from the green, silver, and violet Emeralds he had been juggling, and Metal Shadow was drawing power from the blue, cyan, and yellow Emeralds in his right arm. Both Shadows were grasping the red Chaos Emerald in their left hands, and they were both drawing power from it as well. Since both attacks were fueled by roughly the same amount of chaos energy, neither Chaos Blast was able to overpower the other. Instead, the two attacks pressed against each other relentlessly yet fruitlessly. Metal Shadow and Shadow were both straining themselves, struggling to gain the upper hand, but their efforts were to no avail. The two were evenly matched.

Shadow blacked out for a moment. He found himself in the empty, white room from his dream the night before. He heard that same voice in his head, and the dark feeling that had been haunting him intensified to a maddening level. Shadow kept cool. The voice spoke, "Well done, Shadow, you've managed to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds." Then it chuckled insanely.

Shadow demanded, "Why the hell do you want me to gather the Emeralds? You've already warned me that there's something coming for me, and you already instructed me to find the seven Chaos Emeralds, so why don't you just get the hell out of my head?"

The voice ignored Shadow's question, but it continued to chuckle, "You're in a bit of trouble, aren't you? It seems that you can't gain the upper hand in this little clash. Whatever shall you do?"

Shadow yelled, "Shut up! I don't need your attitude right now! I'm in the middle of a fight!"

The voice said, "If you want to win this fight, then you have to use the power of the Emeralds. Think about it, you've got all seven of the Chaos Emeralds right in front of you. You could use your Super form right now if you wanted."

Shadow had not thought about that until the voice said so. Using his Super form would definitely give him the advantage he needed not only to win this clash, but to win this battle. Shadow momentarily considered thanking the voice, but he decided against it.

Shadow awoke from his blackout. Not an instant had passed. He was still clashing with Metal Shadow's Chaos Blast, and he was still struggling to maintain his own. Shadow closed his eyes, and he started to draw power from the three Chaos Emeralds in Metal Shadow's arm. The black robot looked with shock as the Emeralds in his arm began to glow. The Chaos Emeralds ripped their way out of Metal Shadow's robotic arm, and they completely destroyed the appendage in the process. They floated around Shadow along with the green, silver, and violet Emeralds. Already, Shadow's Chaos Blast was overpowering Metal Shadow's. Shadow's black fur turned golden, and he opened his eyes. Super Shadow's Chaos Blast instantly doubled in power, and the energy practically obliterated Metal Shadow.

Metal Shadow was thrown backwards. He staggered to his feet as his automatic repair system desperately rebuilt his missing arm and reconstructed the various other body parts he had lost to Super Shadow's Chaos Blast. If Metal Shadow had not been protected by his own Chaos Blast, Super Shadow's attack would surely have disintegrated him. Super Shadow chuckled, "Is that all you've got?"

Metal Shadow seemed slightly irritated. Then, the black robot calmed down and gave a small grin. Metal Shadow complimented his organic counterpart, "You've grown quite good at handling those Chaos Emeralds, haven't you? As a matter of fact, you were able to take control of the three in my arm even while I was still using them. That's impressive. However, let's not forget that Dr. Eggman gave me all of your abilities." Chaos energy started to envelop Metal Shadow. "Thank you for gathering all seven of the Chaos Emeralds in one spot for me, Shadow." A dark glow was starting to form around the black robot. "You may be impressive, but I…" Metal Shadow's paint turned completely golden, "am even more impressive than you!"

Super Shadow was momentarily awestruck by Metal Shadow's transformation. It should have been obvious that Metal Shadow could do this. He could use Chaos Control and Chaos Blast, so he clearly had a decent amount of control over chaos energy. Therefore, it would make sense that he could harness the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds in order to obtain a Super form. The transformation made sense once he thought about it, but for some reason, it took Super Shadow completely by surprise.

In a flash of yellow light, Super Metal Shadow was behind Super Shadow. Super Metal Shadow punched at Super Shadow, but Super Shadow blocked. There was another flash of yellow light, and Super Shadow appeared behind his robotic counterpart. Super Shadow kicked Super Metal Shadow in the back of the head with his right foot, and the golden robot was sent flying. Then, another yellow light flashed. Super Metal Shadow was punching his organic counterpart in the stomach. This time, Super Shadow was sent flying back, but he recovered midair. Super Shadow curled himself into a ball, and he spun rapidly in place. Super Metal Shadow did the same. Particles of kinetic and chaos energy started to build up around the golden Shadows, and then the energy surrounded its masters like golden veils. The doppelgangers simultaneously performed Light Speed Attacks. There was an explosion of golden chaos energy midair for an instant. The two Shadows were barely visible at such great speeds. There was another gold explosion. Super Shadow and Super Metal Shadow punched each other again, and there was another explosion. Each instant, another part of the air exploded into golden light.

To Big, an onlooker from afar, it appeared that there were yellow fireworks lighting up the sky. Big did not understand why there were fireworks going off during the evening. Then, he remembered the other explosion he saw coming from that same direction. _There must be a battle going on over there,_ Big thought. Orbot had said that Metal Shadow was in this direction. Perhaps Metal Shadow was fighting someone. That had to be it. However, if Metal Shadow was able to create so many explosions, it would be dangerous for Big to confront him. Big was afraid to get closer to the battle, but Froggy was over there. If Froggy was in the midst of that battle, he would be in more danger than Big would. Big had to save Froggy.

Super Shadow's and Super Metal Shadow's Light Speed Attacks ended just as they had begun: simultaneously. The doppelgangers planted their feet into the ground after their attacks subsided. They landed quite a distance from each other, but they were still close enough to easily see one another. Neither Shadow managed to lay a single blow on the other. Super Shadow heard the voice in his head again, but now it was clearer than ever before. He felt like the voice was someone talking right next to him. He could practically feel it breathing down his neck when it spoke, "Well, it seems that you've yet again reached a stalemate."

Super Shadow retorted, "Be quiet! It was your idea to use my Super form in the first place. Nothing changed at all. Neither of us can gain the upper hand still."

The voice chuckled a little before defensively saying, "How was I supposed to know he had a Super transformation too? You didn't exactly think of it either."

The voice sounded so familiar. Super Shadow had heard it somewhere before; he could swear it was just recently. Super Metal Shadow interrupted his thoughts. "Who are you talking to?"

Super Shadow shouted at his robotic copy, "Never you mind!"

Super Metal Shadow observed, "My scanners indicate that you don't have any communication device on your person." Super Metal Shadow gave a robotic chuckle before adding, "I get it. You've realized that you've finally met your match, and standing face-to-face with your executioner has created so much fear in your heart that you've gone insane."

Super Shadow was getting irritated with everyone chuckling at him. "If you're supposed to know everything about me, then Eggman did a poor job because if you really knew me, you'd know damn well that I've never been scared of any faker."

The voice in Super Shadow's head spoke again, "I can help you gain the advantage. I can help you destroy him."

Super Shadow ignored the voice to prevent provoking another one of Super Metal Shadow's curt remarks. He was no longer in the mood for all of this annoying chatter. Super Metal Shadow nevertheless persisted in his rant, "I'm no faker, Shadow. I'm a superior model of you, a more recent, more effective, more powerful copy."

Metal Shadow may have had Shadow's appearance and abilities, but he did not have anything close to Shadow's personality. Shadow was never this talkative unless he had something that was actually worth saying. Super Metal Shadow was just ranting aimlessly. The voice in Super Shadow's head must have been reading his thoughts. It said, "I can help you shut him up for good. You won't have to listen to his annoying chitchat anymore. Just say the word, and I'll make you strong enough to easily eliminate him."

This just frustrated Super Shadow even more, and he became determined to eradicate his metallic lookalike by himself. The golden superhero raised his hand into the air, and it started glowing with yellow chaos energy as he charged an attack. Super Shadow said under his breath, "Chaos…" and he continued to charge the energy until the glow turned red. Super Shadow yelled, "Lance!" He threw a long javelin of condensed, red chaos energy at Super Metal Shadow, who had also apparently been charging a Chaos Lance behind his back while he was distracting Super Shadow with their conversation. Super Metal Shadow threw his Lance at Super Shadow's, and the two spears of energy collided. Yet again, the attacks were perfectly evenly matched. However, this time the clash did not hold as it did when their Chaos Blasts collided. This time, both of the Lances exploded violently upon impact. The explosion was massive to say the least. Both Super Shadows were caught in it and sent flying backwards.

Big had been watching the battle from behind a stray boulder. He thought, _That looks kind of like Shadow, but his fur is all yellowy. I thought he was black._ Then he remembered back when Sonic had fought the Metal Overlord. Sonic had used the Chaos Emeralds' power to transform. His fur turned golden; he could fly, and he was practically invulnerable. He called himself something. What was it? Oh yeah, it was Super Sonic. This must be Super Shadow, which meant that the robot over there had to be Metal Shadow, or maybe it was Super Metal Shadow now because he was yellow too. The two talked for a while. Big heard them, but he was not really paying attention. He was looking for Froggy, but there was no sign of his green friend. Had the mean robot lied to him? No, Froggy was here. Big could feel it. Red lights started showing up in Super Shadow's and Super Metal Shadow's hands. Big watched the lights closely, but he did not know what to expect. Then, in an instant, the two small lights formed into linear blasts of red light that exploded when they collided with each other. The explosion was really big, and it destroyed the boulder that Big was hiding behind. Big was sent flying backward and into the air, but he used his umbrella as a parachute in order to soften his landing. He hoped Froggy had not been caught in the explosion.

Super Shadow caught himself midair after being blown backward by the explosion. This battle was getting redundant. No matter what Super Shadow used to attack Super Metal Shadow, the golden robot just shot back the same attack with equal power. Super Shadow was panting now. The Chaos Lance was one of his most powerful techniques, but the amount of concentration it required to condense all of that chaos energy took its toll on Super Shadow. Although he hated to admit it, Super Shadow could not keep this up much longer. If he continued to exhaust his energy in useless attempts to harm Super Metal Shadow, he would eventually run out of energy for his Super form, and he would transform back into normal Shadow. Super Metal Shadow showed no signs of tiring. The yellow automaton was walking leisurely toward Super Shadow. Super Metal Shadow taunted his foe, "It looks like you're running out of juice, Super Shadow."

Super Shadow chuckled and stopped panting. "That attack took a lot out of you too. This fight isn't getting anywhere fast. How about you just surrender and make things easier on yourself?"

Super Metal Shadow continued to walk toward his organic doppelganger. "On the contrary, you worthless carbon sack, I'm doing just fine. Like I said, I'm an upgraded version of you. I'm an advanced chaos model. That means I'm designed to undergo a prolonged Super transformation. Putting it simply, my Super form will last longer than yours. You cannot win this fight. Once your transformation runs out, you will be helpless before my power."

Super Shadow clenched his right fist in frustration. His Super form was running out already. His glowing, golden fur blinked a plain black for a second. Super Shadow withheld the urge to pant. Super Metal Shadow continued to walk toward him casually. _Come on,_ Super Shadow thought to himself. _Just use Chaos Control and get the heck out of here. You've got the Emeralds, and you've got just enough energy left to pull it off. Get out of here. Come back and kill this creep another day._ The golden superhero clenched his fist harder, but for some reason, he would not use Chaos Control.

The voice in his head spoke, "But that would make you a coward, wouldn't it?" Super Shadow's eyes widened. The voice continued, "You're not a coward, are you, Shadow?" The dark feeling that had been haunting Shadow intensified even further. It hurt now. It was agonizing. Super Shadow yelled out in pain. He fell to his knees as his entire body was tortured by this creeping, horrible pain. He gritted his teeth and held in the rest of his screams. He tried to stand, but his legs were too shaky. He could not get up. He blacked out.

Yet again, Shadow found himself in that empty room where the voice had first spoken to him. However, this time, he was not alone. There was someone else there with him. It was another black hedgehog. He had red eyes and a white tuft of fur on his chest like Shadow, but his fur was slightly different. The quills on his head were more numerous and spikier than Shadow's. All of his quills, including the two on his back, were tipped with red fur in a flame-like pattern. The ends of his arms and legs were tipped with this design as well, but his hands and feet were covered by black gloves and shoes, respectively. The mysterious hedgehog gave a menacing smile, and he opened his arms in a mocking position. He spoke to Shadow in the same voice that had been haunting him since the night before, "Well, hello again, my big brother."


	21. Mechanical Melee

Amy was nearing unconsciousness when Metal Sonic stepped between Silver Sonic II and her. However, she was startled awake by his appearance. She had a couple of bruises from where Silver Sonic II had backhanded her, and she thought a few of her lower ribs might have been broken by the robot's high-velocity assault. Metal Sonic did not turn to address her, but he said, "Do not fear, Ms. Rose. He shall not cause you any further harm."

Amy's surprise was more than understandable. Metal Sonic had told her himself that he had abandoned their friendship, that they never even had a friendship, that he was not programmed to feel emotions, so he never had feelings for her. He had told her that the desire to protect her life no longer obscured his objectives. If that was the case, then why was he here now? He could be here to finish her off himself. That was the first thought that crossed Amy's mind, but he said not to fear. Was he really saving her life? Did their friendship really mean something after all?

Silver Sonic II's remaining eye identified Metal Sonic. "Subject: Sonic the Hedgehog. Species: hedgehog. Classification: enemy. Threat level: maximal."

Metal Sonic spoke directly to Silver Sonic II, "The object inhibiting your vision has caused a malfunction in your identification system. I am not Sonic the Hedgehog. I am Metal Sonic, a more recent model of you. The real Sonic the Hedgehog is currently combating Dr. Eggman in an area northwest of here. Do not bother yourself with killing this insignificant organism. Follow your programming and assist Dr. Eggman in destroying Sonic the Hedgehog."

Silver Sonic II said, "Initiate advanced combat protocol." A jagged razorblade extended along the right side of Silver Sonic II's right forearm.

Metal Sonic lamented, "He does not listen well." He turned to address Amy. "Do not fear. He is incomplete. He is the second model of Silver Sonic, my first prototype. Dr. Eggman built him as a replacement for the first Silver Sonic, but he was scrapped after Eggman designed the original Mecha Sonic. His strength and density surpass mine, but I am faster and smarter than he. Like me, he does not have a personality or sense of emotion, but by the looks of him, I would assume that he has not yet been given proper logic and self-awareness programming. He is capable only of simplistic, combat-based thinking. I will obliterate him with ease."

Amy wanted to talk to Metal Sonic. She wanted to ask why he was doing this. She was overflowing with curiosity. Unfortunately, she was in too much pain. Regardless, she managed a single word, "Why?"

Metal Sonic did not answer her question. He only repeated, "Do not fear, Ms. Rose. He shall cause you no further harm."

Silver Sonic II rocketed toward Metal Sonic with its right arm at the ready. Metal Sonic flew at Silver Sonic II with equal speed. Metal Sonic aimed for Silver Sonic II's blind spot, and he performed an experimental uppercut to Silver Sonic II's jaw. Like Metal Sonic expected, the uppercut had virtually no effect. Silver Sonic II countered by backhanding at Metal Sonic. This backhand was accompanied by the razorblade in Silver Sonic II's arm. Metal Sonic advanced further into Silver Sonic II's blind spot in an attempt to dodge the attack, but Silver Sonic II's blade still managed to slice off Metal Sonic's right arm. Metal Sonic kept his footing as he skidded onto the ground. The blue robot's automatic repair system reconstructed his right arm. Metal Sonic had cleverly positioned himself in Silver Sonic II's blind spot, so Silver Sonic II did not find him until it turned its head. By that time, Metal Sonic's right arm had been fully rebuilt. Metal Sonic armed the laser guns in both of his arms, and he shot a barrage of lasers at Silver Sonic II. Again, the attack had no effect. Metal Sonic's speculation was correct. Silver Sonic II was too heavily armored to be destroyed by any of his normal attacks. He would have to get creative.

Metal Sonic looked around the area. Although the roof of the upper half of the Egg Narwhal had collapsed when the airship crashed, many of the metal walls from the upper half were still standing to an extent. Silver Sonic II rushed toward Metal Sonic again, but Metal Sonic jumped out of the way. Metal Sonic landed in front of the remains of the thickest wall in the immediate vicinity. He took a firm stance there. Silver Sonic II crushed the ground where Metal Sonic had been standing. Metal Sonic was no longer making an effort to remain hidden in the silver automaton's blind spot, so Silver Sonic II located him immediately. Silver Sonic II wasted no time in attacking Metal Sonic with another high-velocity assault. Metal Sonic leaped over the metal wall behind him. Silver Sonic II punched the wall where Metal Sonic had been. The wall was severely dented by the impact, but Silver Sonic II's attack did not go through it because of its thickness. Instead, Silver Sonic II's fist got stuck in the metal wall. Metal Sonic flew away from the wall. Then, he flew toward it at maximum speed. He hit the back of the wall, which fell over on top of Silver Sonic II. Metal Sonic landed next to the collapsed wall and said, "That should finish him."

Amy smiled. Her vision was still blurry and her awareness fading, so she could not see the details of the fight. Nevertheless, she was clinging to consciousness desperately to watch the outcome of the fight that could determine whether or not her life would end today. When Metal Sonic cleverly crushed Silver Sonic II, all Amy could do was smile.

Her smile did not last. The silver automaton broke through the wall that was crushing it. Its automatic repair system was mending the damage done to its body. Silver Sonic II noticed that its battery was dying. It needed to recharge. Silver Sonic II's remaining eye detected a suitable energy source within "Sonic the Hedgehog."

Silver Sonic II rushed toward Amy. The helpless hedgehog winced and closed her eyes. However, again her death did not come. She opened them, and Silver Sonic II was directly in front of her with its sharpened right arm sticking down into Metal Sonic's torso. Silver Sonic II announced, "Recharge protocol initiate." Silver Sonic II raised Metal Sonic into the air. A thin pipe extended from the left side of Silver Sonic II's right arm. The pipe injected itself into Metal Sonic's glowing, spherical power core, and it began to drain his energy. A tear dripped down Amy's face. This was exactly like when Metal Sonic died while fighting Saturn. Amy could not bear to watch this again, yet she could not bear to close her eyes.

"Do not fear, Ms. Rose," Metal Sonic said, much to Amy's surprise. "I will admit that I underestimated him. His logic skills are more advanced than I anticipated. He has information about the relationships between Sonic and his friends in his database. He has mistaken me for Sonic, so he predicted that I would interfere if he attacked you. Apparently, his personality is not as incomplete as I thought either. He has been programmed with a single personality trait: cruelty."

Amy coughed, and she managed to say, "You—don't have to do this—for me…"

Metal Sonic responded, "Yes, I do." The blue robot activated the laser gun in his right arm, and he shot Silver Sonic II's left eye. The silver robot was now completely blinded, but its automatic repair was fixing this problem. However, before Silver Sonic II could recover, Metal Sonic used his left hand to grab the head of Amy's Piko Piko Hammer, which was still lodged in Silver Sonic II's face. Metal Sonic removed the hammer from Silver Sonic II's head by ripping it through the right half of the silver automaton's visage. Then, Metal Sonic shot Silver Sonic II's left eye again after it repaired to blind his foe once more. Metal Sonic grabbed the razorblade on Silver Sonic II's right forearm, and he yanked it away from the silver appendage. He used the blade to slice off Silver Sonic II's right arm to stop the automaton from draining his power core. Then, he completely decapitated Silver Sonic II before its face could be reconstructed. Silver Sonic II's automatic repair system was now trying to wholly rebuild its head and right arm. While the system was still working, Metal Sonic used the razorblade to cut a massive gash along Silver Sonic II's torso. He switched the laser gun on his arm to rapid-fire, and he shot a barrage of lasers at the exposed wirings and mechanisms inside of Silver Sonic II's chest. The automaton's robotic innards burst into a series of explosions. Its automatic repair system had finished rebuilding its head and arm, but it was now working to repair the massive amount of damage done to its chest and internal mechanisms. Unfortunately for Silver Sonic II, Metal Sonic's lasers were destroying its internal machineries faster than the automatic repair system could fix them. Silver Sonic II used the last of its spare parts. Metal Sonic continued to shoot until the silver juggernaut fell to its knees and collapsed.

Metal Sonic disarmed his laser gun. The fight was done. Amy relaxed. She allowed herself to slip further into unconsciousness. There was a bright light. Metal Sonic picked her up hurriedly and carried her away from it at high speed. The light was getting more intense, but they continued to fly away from it. Amy fell asleep.


	22. Aftermath

The explosion triggered by the self-destruct mechanism in Dr. Eggman's time machine was not the best explosion Eggman had created. In fact, it was not really an explosion in the truest sense. It was more like an expanding sphere of white-hot fire. True, the blast covered over a kilometer in total by spreading about half a kilometer in every direction, but the detonation did little more than fry the encompassed area. Needless to say, all of the grass was burned to ash. The reason for Eggman's lazy construction of the self-destruct mechanism was simple: He did not expect to have to actually use it. Nevertheless, the shockwave completely destroyed the time machine, and it shattered the Master Emerald, scattering the pieces across the blast zone.

Sonic was able to outrun the slow explosion even while carrying Tails, Knuckles, and Vector. The blue blur carried his friends all the way back to Central City, but he stopped as soon as he arrived. He let go of Knuckles's and Vector's wrists, and Tails hopped off of his back. Sonic said, "We have to go back and get Silver!"

Tails nodded. "I agree. Amy and Cream were still over there somewhere too. We need to make sure they weren't caught in the explosion."

Knuckles said, "It was Silver's decision to stay behind for us. The least we can do is make sure he's okay."

Vector added, "I'm not going with you."

Sonic asked, "Why not?"

Vector answered, "Well, we're in Central City, and I figure we have to report this to authorities before the media starts spreading more rumors."

Knuckles chuckled, "Reporting stuff to the authorities is usually Rouge's bit, isn't it?"

Vector said, "Yeah, but she doesn't know the whole story. Besides, I'm a detective. I'll lose my job if I don't come up with a good scoop every now and then."

Sonic said, "I understand." He grabbed onto Knuckles's and Tails's wrists, and he ran off back to the Egg Narwhal's crash site. He stopped where the time machine had stood. He looked at the destroyed area. Eggman and Orbot were nowhere to be found. "Eggman must've used the explosion as a means to escape," Sonic observed.

"That coward," Knuckles insulted.

Tails looked at a green, shard-shaped jewel in the rubble. "What's this?"

Knuckles turned his attention to Tails. He widened his eyes and ran toward the young fox. He snatched the shard from him. "This is a piece of the Master Emerald! That blasted Eggman shattered it when he blew up the machine!"

Sonic was not paying much attention to Knuckles or Tails. He was still looking for Silver. He spotted him. Silver was down on his hands and knees with his face pointed downward. He was on top of something, protectively shielding it. Oddly, the grass around Silver was still alive and green. Sonic shouted, "Silver!" Knuckles and Tails turned their attention to the silver hedgehog, and they ran to his side with Sonic. Now that he was closer, Sonic could see exactly what Silver was shielding: Cream and Cheese.

Silver did not move when Sonic called his name. He was panting, clearly exhausted. Cream was staring up at him in horror, and Cheese was terrified and clinging to Cream's dress. Silver fell down on his side, and he lay unconscious next to Cream. Tails yelled his question, "Cream! What are you doing here?"

Cream stuttered, "I—I was just coming back here to help you guys fight. Amy was fighting this scary robot, and she told me to come back here, so I did, and then there was this wave of white fire. Silver jumped on top of me, and he put this energy field around us to protect us from the blast. I was so scared."

Tails helped Cream to her feet, and Sonic hugged her comfortingly. "There, there, it's okay, Cream. You're okay."

Knuckles checked Silver. The psychokinetic hero was still breathing heavily. Knuckles addressed the others, "He's fine. He's just tired. He'll be better after he gets some sleep."

Sonic asked Cream, "You said Amy was fighting a robot, right? Where is she?"

Cream was crying from the shock of her near death experience, but she pointed southeast toward where she and Amy had been attacked by Silver Sonic II. Sonic turned to his friends. "Knuckles, I'm going to look for Amy. Can you and Tails watch Cream and Silver while I'm gone?"

Knuckles nodded. "I'm still going to look for some more of the Master Emerald shards while I'm around here though. Is that alright?"

Sonic said, "That's fine. I'll be back before you know it."

Cream shouted, "No!" Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails turned toward her. Cream said, "Amy stayed behind to protect me, and now she's in trouble. I have to come with you!" Sonic almost said something, but Cream continued, "I'm fine!" She wiped her tears away. "I can still fight!"

Cheese shouted, "Cho!"

Sonic scratched the back of his head. "I guess I don't really have a choice." He carried Cream and Cheese on his back, and he dashed off to the southeast. He asked Cream, "You said Amy was fighting a scary robot, right? What kind of robot was it exactly?"

Cream said, "He looked like you. He was a big, metal hedgehog with no paint, and he had these creepy, orange eyes. He said his name was Silver Sonic II."

Sonic thought, _Silver Sonic II? I didn't think Eggman would make another copy of me after Metal Sonic ultimately failed to destroy me._

Cream interrupted his thoughts, "This is the place!"

Sonic stopped. There were numerous, small craters in the ground, and some of the metal walls contained dents and holes. "I don't see Amy."

Cream pointed ahead of Sonic. "Look!" Silver Sonic II was lying face-down on the ground. His body was entirely intact.

Sonic set Cream and Cheese down. He walked over to the destroyed robot. "It looks kind of like me, but it's huge."

Cream walked over next to Sonic. "I told you." Sonic kicked the robot over and saw the massive gash in its chest as well as the destroyed inner mechanisms. Cream said, "Wow, Amy really beat him up."

Sonic placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think Amy did this. Her hammer can't cut stuff, so I don't know how she could've made this gash in his chest."

Cream said, "Well, I don't care who beat him. Besides, we still have to find Amy."

Sonic said, "You're right. Let's go." Cream and Cheese hopped back on Sonic's shoulders, and the blue hero dashed away with them.

However, Sonic had accidentally made a huge mistake. When he kicked Silver Sonic II, the massive automaton's hand landed on top of a stray Master Emerald shard. Sonic, Cream, and Cheese had been too transfixed by Silver Sonic II to notice it. Part of the Emerald shard's negative chaos energy flowed into Silver Sonic II. "Chaos data analyzed and copied. System upgrade downloaded. Initiate emergency self-start program."


	23. The Monster Returns

Shadow was in the blank white room from his dream the night before. He was standing face-to-face with his younger brother, Saturn the Hedgehog. Shadow's jaw dropped. Saturn asked casually, "Are you surprised?"

Shadow glared at him with anger. "You're dead. I saw it. You were blown to bits by the positive chaos energy in the Emeralds."

Saturn put his hands on his hips. "Yes, that certainly did sting a bit, but dying isn't actually as painful as I imagined it would be."

Shadow asked demandingly, "What are you doing in my head? Why did you want me to gather the Chaos Emeralds?"

Saturn sighed and lowered his head a bit. "I thought I told you before. All I want is to become complete."

Shadow clenched his fists. "You still want to absorb the Emeralds, don't you?"

Saturn raised his finger and gave a toothy grin. "Not quite."

Shadow yelled, "Stop speaking in riddles! You're dead! How have you been talking to me all day? Are you a ghost?"

Saturn chuckled, "Allow me explain. I guess you could call me a ghost, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. I'll start at the beginning: my transformation."

Shadow said, "What about it? What does that have to do with anything?"

Saturn said casually, "If you'll shut up for two seconds, I'll get to that." Shadow was silent. Saturn continued, "Thanks, now where was I? Oh yes, my transformation. You see, my Infinite form is very different from your Super form."

Shadow gritted his teeth. "Go on."

"In order to activate your Super forms, you and your friends simply borrow a sufficient amount of positive chaos energy from the Chaos Emeralds. However, since the energy is only borrowed, your Super forms only last for set amounts of time."

Shadow said, "I know how Super forms work."

Saturn chuckled, "Well, my Infinite form is nothing like that. You see, I don't borrow a set amount of energy. I absorb it. The energy becomes mine. The Chaos Emeralds become a part of me. In a sense, my Infinite form is like a permanent version of your Super form. However, the biggest difference is that my Infinite form takes all of the Emeralds' power. Therefore, I have access to unlimited amounts of both positive and negative chaos energy instead of a Super form's limited access to only positive energy."

Shadow said, "That still doesn't explain how you're in one piece."

Saturn said, "I'm getting there. When the Emeralds' positive energy turned on me, it attacked both my body and spirit. It completely obliterated my physical body, and it split my spirit into eight pieces."

Shadow was calmer now. "Okay, so if your body was obliterated, why didn't your soul just move on?"

Saturn smiled. "It's because not all of my body was obliterated."

Shadow was confused. "What?"

Saturn continued, "Like I said, when I became Infinite Saturn, the Chaos Emeralds became a part of me. My organic body was destroyed by the positive energy, but a part of me lived on in the Chaos Emeralds. Since the Chaos Emeralds, which were the remainders of my body, were separated back into their seven separate entities, a piece of my separated spirit also was sealed into each of the Emeralds."

Shadow clarified, "So the pieces of your soul used the seven Chaos Emeralds as substitutes for your destroyed body?"

Saturn chuckled, "That's right."

Shadow asked, "What about the eighth piece? You said that your spirit was split into eight pieces. If one piece went into each of the seven Chaos Emeralds, then there was a leftover."

Saturn said, "I see you were paying attention. That brings me to the next part of my explanation. Here's something you may not know about your Super form. When you borrow part of the Chaos Emeralds' positive energy in order to become Super Shadow, an invisible bridge of energy is formed between you and the Emeralds. The positive energy uses that bridge to go from the Emeralds into your body, and it uses the bridge to go back to the Emeralds after your Super form runs out."

Shadow wondered, "What are you getting at?"

Saturn explained, "Since the Chaos Emeralds were part of me at the time of my death, that bridge of energy was connecting me with Sonic, Knuckles, and you. Since the seven Chaos Emeralds were occupied by the other pieces of my spirit, the eighth piece somehow found its way across that bridge and into your body."

Shadow presumed, "So that's how you were able to talk to me, right?"

Saturn chuckled, "You got it. It took me some time, but I finally found out how that little piece of my spirit could communicate with you verbally. I'll admit it's a lot easier now that my spirit is in one piece again."

Shadow asked, "How exactly did your spirit get back in one piece?"

Saturn said, "That was the tricky part. You see, I needed you to become Super Shadow. That way, the energy bridge between you and the Chaos Emeralds would be reformed, and the pieces of my spirit in the Chaos Emeralds could cross that bridge and reunite in your body."

Shadow clenched his fist and yelled, "You tricked me!"

Saturn laughed, "I persuaded you. Everything I told you was the truth."

Shadow looked down. "Why me?"

Saturn asked, "Beg your pardon?"

Shadow screamed, "Why the hell did that piece of your soul go into me? The Emeralds were linked to Sonic and Knuckles too! Why didn't it use them as a host?"

Saturn shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. It just did. If I had to guess, I'd assume that it's because your body is the most similar to mine."

Shadow shouted, "In that case, get out! Your soul is in one piece again now, so get out of my body! Move on! Go to Hell!"

Saturn chuckled again, "Sorry, I'm not quite done here on Earth."

Shadow asked, "What do you mean?"

Saturn said, "Think about it. Your spirit can control positive chaos energy, and my spirit can control negative chaos energy. Together, we'd be unstoppable. It's like you and I were meant to become one."

Shadow crossed his arms. "I'll pass."

"Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. I'm trapped in this body just like you. I'll admit it's not a bad body, but I still couldn't go anywhere even if I tried. The only way either of us is getting out of this body is if you die. Frankly, I'm not too keen on dying again, so I'd like to keep you alive. In that sense, you and I both want the same thing. If you allow me, I'd be more than happy to help you stay alive."

Shadow questioned, "And how would you go about doing that?"

Saturn smiled evilly. "Let me take over. Allow me to control your body temporarily. I can control negative chaos energy. You're running out of positive chaos energy, but that golden robot still has plenty of negative. If you let me take over, I can control his energy and use it against him."

Shadow said, "Again, I'll pass."

Saturn continued, "You don't really have much choice. In your normal form, you don't stand a chance against Super Metal Shadow. Your options are simple. Either you let me take over and annihilate that tin can, or you allow both of us to die."

Shadow demanded, "Why should I trust you? Just last week you were trying to kill me!"

Saturn answered, "Because I don't want to die."

Shadow clenched his fist. He looked down. "Five minutes, that's all you have. After that, I'm taking back over."

Saturn smiled. "More than enough time."

Back in the real world, Super Metal Shadow was still approaching Super Shadow. No time had passed during Shadow's internal conversation with Saturn. Super Shadow was still on his knees. His golden fur faded to black. His Super form had run out. Super Metal Shadow's right arm transformed into a laser gun. He pointed it down at the kneeling Shadow. "Bon voyage."

There was a flash of red light, and in the next instant, Shadow was punching Super Metal Shadow in the stomach. The dark chaos energy enveloping Super Metal Shadow started draining into Shadow. Super Metal Shadow's paint faded back to its original coloring, and Shadow's black fur gained a red tint. Dark energy was now completely surrounding Shadow. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, Dark Shadow spoke with Saturn's voice, "I'm back." Dark Shadow appeared behind Metal Shadow with a Chaos Spear in hand. Metal Shadow's head fell from his shoulders, and his body fell limply to the ground.

Metal Shadow's head continued to speak, "How… How did you take my energy? You can't do this! You can only use positive chaos energy!"

Dark Shadow chuckled manically, still with Saturn's voice, "Correction, Shadow can only use positive chaos energy. I use negative chaos energy."

Metal Shadow asked, "What? Who are you?"

Dark Shadow placed his foot on top of Metal Shadow's head, and his Chaos Spear dissipated. "Saturn the Hedgehog." He crushed the decapitated head.


	24. Amy Perseveres

Amy dreamt that she was in a never-ending field of ankle-deep water. Nevertheless, her feet were dry. Three points in the water began to ripple slightly. Then, three figures ascended from the water without disturbing it at all. They were Saturn, Silver Sonic II, and Metal Knuckles. Amy armed her Piko Piko Hammer and charged at them, but Sonic and Metal Sonic materialized in front of her. The two blue hedgehogs charged at the evil trio. Suddenly, the area erupted into a battle too fast for Amy's eyes. The water splashed at random points. Amy looked around and struggled to keep up with their movements. There were only colored blurs signifying the combatants. Within a few moments, Amy realized that she could not differentiate Sonic from Metal Sonic. The two appeared as identical, blue blurs brawling at the speed of sound with Saturn, Metal Knuckles, and Silver Sonic II. Then, Silver Sonic II was still for a moment. Amy noticed this, and she took advantage of the opportunity to join the fight. She charged at Silver Sonic II, but the metal juggernaut bashed her aside effortlessly. Then, she was caught by a blue hedgehog. It may have been Sonic; it may have been Metal Sonic. Her vision was blurry now, so she could not tell. However, regardless of which Sonic had caught her, the other Sonic had disappeared. Now, she and the blue figure holding her were surrounded by Metal Knuckles, Saturn, and Silver Sonic II. The three villains charged at her and her blue guardian simultaneously. Amy closed her eyes. She heard the sound of slicing blades. She felt no pain. The water beneath her gained a crimson tint. She screamed.

Amy awoke in a hospital bed. There were bandages on her midsection. Her ribs hurt. They must have been fractured by Silver Sonic II. Her face was bruised. She turned her gaze to the right. Metal Sonic was sitting on a chair next to her bed. Metal Sonic asked her, "Are you disoriented?" Amy shook her head. Metal Sonic continued, "Good, you were injured, but not severely. Your lower ribs are broken, and your intestines are bruised. Several of your other internal organs have been slightly damaged as well, but your heart and lungs are functional. You will be fine."

Amy asked him, "How long have I been out?"

Metal Sonic answered, "Not long, you became unconscious less than ten minutes ago."

Amy placed her hand on her head. "I feel dizzy."

Metal Sonic explained, "The doctor gave you medication to relieve your pain."

Amy said, "It's working. I'm not hurting at all."

Metal Sonic lamented, "That will not last. Since your intestines were bruised, it may be painful for you to digest food for a while. Also, your broken ribs will obviously cause you quite a bit of pain, and you will need to cough severely in order to prevent the secretion from your broken ribs from collapsing your lungs."

Amy complimented, "You're quite the doctor, aren't you, Metal?"

Metal Sonic said, "Dr. Eggman programmed me with necessary knowledge about the effects of damage caused to the body of an anthropomorphic hedgehog." Amy realized that this knowledge was intended to be used in order to give Eggman a full analysis of the injuries Metal Sonic was to incur on the original Sonic.

Amy changed the subject. "How long will I be in here?"

Metal Sonic responded, "That depends on the preferences of your doctor. You will probably not be here long, but a full recovery from your condition could take months for a normal human. However, anthropomorphic animals like you are exceptionally fast healers. I would estimate that it would only take a week or two for you to recover."

Amy looked down. "I see." She was silent for a moment. Then she asked, "Where are Sonic and the others?"

Metal Sonic answered, "I believe they are still at the crash site of the Egg Narwhal."

Amy continued, "Are they safe?"

Metal Sonic said, "There was a massive explosion. My sensors indicate that it originated from Dr. Eggman's time machine. However, Sonic would be able to outrun it. Therefore, I assume that he is safe. The others are most likely fine as well."

Amy looked Metal Sonic in the eye. "In that case, I want you to take me to him."

Metal Sonic said bluntly, "I will not. You are not in appropriate condition for travel."

Amy spoke sternly, "I don't care. I want to see him. The only reason I fought Silver Sonic II was to protect him. I deserve to see him now." Metal Sonic did not waver. Amy gambled her last statement, "Please, I'm asking you this as your friend."

Metal Sonic stared at her intently for several long moments. Then he responded, "Fine, I shall take you to the Egg Narwhal's crash site. If Sonic is there, I will allow you to converse with him briefly, but then I shall take you back to this hospital. If Sonic is not at the crash site, we will not continue our search for him, and I shall return you to this room. After you are back here, I will leave you. I am going to search for Dr. Eggman and continue to serve him."

Amy nodded. "That sounds fair enough."

Metal Sonic carried Amy carefully on his shoulders. He sped out of the hospital with her so quickly that the people they passed only felt a small gust of wind go by them. Metal Sonic continued north toward the crash site. He felt Amy wince in pain, and he stopped. "Are you well?"

Amy said, "Yeah, my ribs just hurt is all. I'm fine."

Metal Sonic asked, "Are you sure?"

Amy insisted, "Yes, I'm sure." Metal Sonic hesitated. Amy took another chance. "Metal, you never answered my question. Why did you save me from Silver Sonic II?"

Metal Sonic paused a moment before answering, "I do not know."

Amy asked another question. "Was it that 'unknown directory program' thingy?"

Metal Sonic responded, "I am not sure. The program is in a memory chip in the back of my hardware, so the messages that it tries to send me should be blocked by my network's firewall. When I saw you on the Egg Narwhal, I felt nothing, yet when your life was at risk, I had to save you."

Amy wondered, "Well, my life isn't at risk anymore, so why are you helping me now? Why were you even sitting by my bed at the hospital? There was no need. You could've been out serving Dr. Eggman or fighting Sonic or whatever."

Metal Sonic hesitated again. "I do not know."

Amy smiled. "In that case, I want to thank you." Metal Sonic seemed confused, so Amy explained, "Before, you only saved my life because that program was telling you to, but now, you're in control. You're freely choosing to help me, so thank you."

Metal Sonic responded with a simple, "You're welcome, Ms. Rose." He continued to speed toward the crash site with Amy. In a matter of moments, they arrived at the edge of the rubble. Metal Sonic stopped. He said, "Let us begin our search."

Amy looked around the area. She saw no one. However, a small glimmer caught her eye amidst the rubble. "What's that?" she asked. Metal Sonic walked toward it. He kneeled down and reached his hand into the rubble. From it he pulled a small, green shard with a jewel-like shine. He examined it. Amy asked, "Is that a piece of the green Chaos Emerald?"

Metal Sonic said, "No, it is a shard of the Master Emerald. The gem must have been shattered and scattered across the area when Dr. Eggman's time machine self-destructed. The explosion had a diameter of approximately one kilometer, so it would be safe to assume that there are shards strewn across the entire area."

Amy said, "Wow, I bet Knuckles is upset about that."

Metal Sonic responded, "Yes, when one takes into consideration the echidna's temper and protectiveness of the Master Emerald, Knuckles is probably displeased."

Amy smiled and chuckled, "Did you just tell a joke?"

Metal Sonic said blankly, "No, I was merely affirming your statement by inputting evidences from my personal experience to support it." Amy kept chuckling anyway.

Metal Sonic was confused. Another strange sensation passed through him. He did not know how to describe it, so he searched his software's dictionary to find a noun that matched the description of his sensation. The word he found was _happiness_. That was impossible. Happiness was an emotion, and he could not feel emotions. He must have described the sensation incorrectly.

There was a loud bang, reminiscent to that of a distant explosion. Amy and Metal Sonic looked toward the source of the bang, closer to the center of the remains of the Egg Narwhal. Amy was horrified by what she saw.


	25. The Madness Begins

Sonic, Cream, and Cheese returned to where Tails was watching over the still-unconscious Silver. Tails asked them, "Did you find Amy?"

Sonic, Cream, and Cheese shook their heads. Sonic said, "We looked all over the place, but Amy just isn't anywhere near here."

Tails responded, "In that case, I'm relieved. If Amy isn't here, we can assume that she didn't get hit by the explosion, and she's safe."

Cream and Cheese sighed with relief. Sonic looked around. "Where's Knuckles?"

Just then, the red echidna emerged from a pile of metal scrap. He noticed Sonic. "Oh, hey there, did you find Amy?"

Sonic sighed, "No, we didn't find her. What were you doing? I told you to look after Silver."

Knuckles said, "I was." Sonic and Cheese gave Knuckles a hard glare. Knuckles confessed, "Alright, fine, I was looking for the Master Emerald shards." Knuckles showed a handful of green shards in his left hand.

Cream asked, "Were you able to find all of them?"

Knuckles shook his head. "No, the Master Emerald was broken into smaller pieces than usual this time, which means that there are a lot more shards. I can put the Emerald back together if I have all of the shards, but it looks like it'll be a while before I can do that."

Silver opened his eyes. He put his hand on his forehead. "Oh, my head, what happened?"

Tails explained, "Dr. Eggman's time machine self-destructed, and you created a barrier of psychokinetic energy to protect Cream."

Silver wondered, "Really? I didn't know I could do that."

Cream looked at Silver. "Thank you so much, Mr. Silver."

Silver smiled. "You're quite welcome, Ms. Cream."

Sonic asked Silver, "How are you doing?"

Silver answered, "I feel great actually. A quick nap completely replenished my ESP. I'm up and running again." The futuristic hedgehog gave a reassuring smile.

The heroes' conversation was interrupted by an epic misfortune. A massive, metal figure emerged from the rubble of the Egg Narwhal. It was over one hundred feet tall. Its upper body was in the shape of a wingless dragon. Four arms extended from the shoulders that separated the monster's serpentine neck from its thick torso. Each of its hands possessed five long, sharp fingers with massive claws. Its head was flat, long, and triangular, complete with a set of tiny, yellow-orange eyes had black lines running across them in a grid-like pattern. Shards from the broken Master Emerald were embedded in the sides of its head. They continued down its neck, past its shoulders, and down its upper pair of arms until they reached its mechanical wrists. The lower half of the dragon's body was shaped like a humongous, silver army tank, but there was no gun barrel extending from the rotatable top. Instead, the upper part of the dragon was connected to the top of the tank's hood. There were guns wrapped around the dragon's four wrists like lethal bracelets. The dragon roared, revealing that its mouth was complete with jagged razorblades for teeth and that its throat contained a menagerie of buzz saws. Everyone's jaws dropped. The dragon roared in an abnormally deep voice, "Introduction: I am Silver Sonic II. I was created and programmed by the great and evil Dr. Eggman Robotnik for the sole purpose of destroying Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends." He looked down at Sonic and his friends. "Subjects: Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, Miles Prower, Silver the Hedgehog, Cream the Rabbit, and Cheese the Chao. Species: hedgehog, echidna, fox, hedgehog, rabbit, and Chao. Classification: enemies. Threat level: minimal."

Knuckles screamed, "What the hell is that?"

Sonic looked at Cream. "I thought you said the robot we saw earlier was Silver Sonic II!"

Cream was panicked. "He was! This must be him!"

Silver wondered, "Silver Sonic II, huh, what happened to the first Silver Sonic?"

Tails explained, "He was one of Metal Sonic's prototypes, but we destroyed him. This must be his second model, Silver Sonic II."

Sonic shouted, "Silver Sonic II? That thing doesn't look anything like me! It looks more like Silver Madness!"

Knuckles noticed the green gems embedded into Silver Madness. "Those are shards of the Master Emerald!"

Sonic said, "That explains how he got so much bigger. He must've used the shards' power to perform Chaos Unification in order to fuse himself with a bunch of this rubble!"

Silver added, "Well, whatever it is, imagine how much damage it could do if it got to that big city south of here. We have to stop it here and now!"

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Cream affirmed, "Right!"

Silver Madness's gaze focused more directly on Knuckles. The metal dragon examined the Master Emerald shards in Knuckles's left hand. Silver Madness charged at Knuckles at the speed of sound, but Sonic detected the attack, and he ran at Knuckles too. Since Sonic was closer, he was able to reach Knuckles first, and he pushed Knuckles away from Silver Madness's massive claws that dug into the ground where Knuckles had been standing. Unfortunately, Sonic's push caught Knuckles off guard, and the red echidna dropped the Master Emerald shards. Silver Madness had planned that. Numerous thin tubes extended from the palm of the metal dragon's hand, and they grabbed the scattered shards. The shards were pulled into Silver Madness's hand by the tubes.

Silver turned his head toward Silver Madness at the instant the monster attacked. He thought, _What was that? My eyes were barely able to keep up! Can that gargantuan hunk of metal really move that fast?_

Knuckles shouted angrily at Sonic, "What are you doing? You made me drop the shards!"

Sonic retorted, "I was saving your life!"

Knuckles shoved Sonic aside. "Stay out of my way!"

The red echidna ran toward Silver Madness's massive hand, whose fingers will still jammed into the earth. Knuckles pulled his fist back, and he punched one of the claws with all his might. However, a feint, green aura outlined Silver Madness's hand, and Knuckles bounced back when his fist connected with it.

Silver analyzed the attack inwardly, _Silver Madness must be using the power from those green shards to create a veil of deflection around himself. It's like he's wearing energy armor._

Sonic thought aloud, "Maybe if we tried attacking a weaker point." He turned to Tails. "Tails! Fly me up to this freak's head!"

Tails spun his twin tails in order to fly toward Sonic. He exclaimed, "Leave it to me, Sonic!" Sonic jumped up and grabbed Tails's ankle.

Knuckles turned to Cream. "Can you get me up there too?"

Cream nodded, "Sure." The rabbit flew up using her large ears, and Knuckles grabbed onto her ankle. Cheese followed them. Cream and Tails flew Knuckles and Sonic up to Silver Madness's head. The robotic dragon pulled its hand from the ground and looked at the flying heroes.

Silver thought, _I've got to distract him!_ He yelled, "Hey! Look over here, ya big scrap heap!" The futuristic hedgehog used his psychokinetic powers to fling several large hunks of metal at Silver Madness, but they too were deflected by the green veil.

Cream and Tails threw Knuckles and Sonic at Silver Madness's head. Sonic curled himself into a ball and became a spinning, blue projectile. Knuckles held his fists in front of him as he glided toward Silver Madness with incredible speed. Both Knuckles and Sonic were reflected by Silver Madness's barrier of energy. Silver Madness flexed his upper-left hand. Silver widened his eyes. Silver Madness swung his upper-left hand at Knuckles and Sonic while they were still midair, but Silver used his psychokinetic powers to push them out of the way.

The six heroes regrouped when Sonic and Knuckles landed on the ground. Sonic observed, "None of our attacks are working!"

Silver noticed, "It's that barrier. It's deflecting everything we throw at him!"

Knuckles concluded, "That metal monster must be draining power from the Master Emerald shards and using it to block our attacks!"

Tails wondered, "But, Knuckles, I thought you could control the Master Emerald's power better than anyone? Why can't you stop the barrier?"

Knuckles explained, "I don't really control the Master Emerald. I communicate with it, and it listens, but I need to be close to it. Right now, Silver Madness is controlling all of the Emerald shards. The only way I could communicate with the Emerald is if I got a hold of one of those shards."

Cream worried, "But how are we going to do that if we can't even touch him?"

Cheese was also fraught with worry. "Cho! Cho-Cho!"

A familiar, demonic voice entered the conversation, "Well, well, how the mighty have fallen. It looks like you guys could really use a hand right about now. It's too bad you can't use your Super forms, isn't it?" The six warriors turned around to see Dark Shadow, who was casually juggling the seven Chaos Emeralds in his right hand.


	26. Reunited | A Chaotic Battle

Part I: Reunited

After Dark Shadow disappeared in a flash of red light, Metal Shadow's automatic repair system began to reconstruct his decapitated head. Metal Shadow stood up. He cursed, "That second-rate carbon sack, how did he manage to steal my Super form?" Just then, a long string with a spiky, metal ball tied to its end struck Metal Shadow. Metal Shadow exclaimed, "What the!" The string wrapped its way around the black robot twelve times before the metal ball at the end stuck into the ground and secured the string. Metal Shadow was now tightly restrained.

Metal Shadow heard a voice demand, "Where's Froggy?"

He turned his head slightly in order to see that Big the Cat was behind him. The violet tabby had trapped him using his signature fishing pole, and he was looking for his frog. Metal Shadow chuckled with a condescending, robotic voice, "Why should I tell you?"

Big balled his left hand into a fist, and he pointed it at Metal Shadow. "Because I'll smash you if you don't, you frog-hiding bully!"

Metal Shadow chuckled, looked down, and shook his head piteously. "Do you really think you can smash me, you idiotic pussycat?" Metal Shadow burst from the string that restrained him. His right arm transformed into a laser gun, and he pointed it at the startled Big. A red light began to form in the barrel of the gun, and Metal Shadow shouted, "Bye-bye!" A gunshot sounded, and a bullet flew through the side of Metal Shadow's gun-arm. The bullet disrupted the flow of energy in his arm, and his gun malfunctioned. Since Metal Shadow was now no longer controlling the energy in his arm, it exploded in a blast of bright, red light. Big was startled by the light, but he looked to his left in order to see Rouge. The female bat was pointing one of her pistols at Metal Shadow. Metal Shadow's right arm, right shoulder, and the right halves of his chest and head were all destroyed by the explosion. Again, Metal Shadow's automatic repair system was struggling to replace his missing body parts. Metal Shadow, still fixing himself, looked at Rouge. "You! How the hell were you able to shoot my arm? My armor is built to withstand any gunshot!"

Rouge chuckled, "Sorry, Honey, these bullets are especially designed to penetrate any metal, no matter how dense it might be."

Metal Shadow managed to say, "Why you—" but he was cut off. Rouge armed her second handgun, and she fired bullets repetitively through Metal Shadow's chest. Metal Shadow staggered backward with each shot, but that was all he could do. Rouge ran out of bullets, and Metal Shadow grinned as his automatic repair system mended the bullet holes in his torso.

However, before Metal Shadow could attack, a clawed, robotic hand stuck through his abdomen from behind. Metal Shadow again turned his head to face his second tormentor: Omega.

Omega announced, "Eradicate Eggman's robot."

Omega reached into Metal Shadow's back, and he pulled out a small, metal orb with wires attached to it. After the orb was removed, the light from Metal Shadow's eyes began to fade. The black robot fell limply to the ground. Rouge walked over to Omega. "Good job, Omega," she complimented. Omega handed her the metal orb, and she casually examined it. "I guess this was his power core, huh?"

Omega said, "Affirmative."

A robotic voice announced, "Emergency power system activated." The red light returned to Metal Shadow's eyes. The robotic hedgehog stood up, turned around, and transformed his right arm back into a gun. Metal Shadow fired a massive red laser at Omega and Rouge, but Omega grabbed Rouge and used his rockets to swiftly dodge the blast. However, Metal Shadow was faster than Omega. He rapidly positioned himself directly in front of Omega and Rouge, and he prepared to fire another laser. Now, there was no time for Omega to dodge, but surprisingly, the laser did not fire. Instead, the red light in the barrel of Metal Shadow's arm-gun blinked out, and Metal Shadow's eyes started to fade again. He said robotically, "Emergency power system has been depleted. Damn, that just sucks." Metal Shadow powered down and fell over again.

Rouge remarked, "Well, his backup energy source didn't last as long as Metal Sonic's."

Omega explained, "Metal Shadow's lasers are more powerful than those of most Eggman robots. Therefore, they consume more energy. When Metal Shadow attacked us with his lasers, it quickly depleted his emergency power system."

Big cautiously approached Rouge and Omega. "Um, thanks, you two," he said timidly.

Rouge responded, "No problem, he was a jerk anyway, but I have to ask what you're doing here in the first place."

Big answered, "I'm looking for Froggy. One of Eggman's robots stole him from me earlier this week, and I've been looking for him ever since. I finally found the robot that stole him, and he told me that Metal Shadow had him, but I don't see him anywhere."

Rouge lamented, "Bummer." She pulled out a screwdriver and began to tinker with the Metal Shadow's metal power core. She eyed it curiously. "This doesn't look anything like most of the power cores for Eggman's robots. I wonder how it works."

Rouge's screwdriver found its way into a crease on the orb, and it opened by separating into two halves. Inside the orb was a small, green frog, who had never outgrown the tail he had as a tadpole. Big exclaimed excitedly, "Froggy!" Froggy croaked happily, and he jumped into Big's hands.

Omega observed, "Metal Shadow's power core was an organic battery powered by the frog. Since the frog once absorbed a portion of Chaos, Dr. Eggman must have used the residual Chaos data in order to enable Metal Shadow to use Chaos Control."

Rouge placed her hand on her hip and smiled. "Well, what do ya know?" She turned her attention toward the rejoicing Big. "By the way, you didn't happen to see Shadow anywhere around here, did you? He was headed in this direction, and I thought for sure he was going to end up fighting Metal Shadow."

Froggy was now sitting on Big's head. Big responded, "He was. He and Metal Shadow used their Super forms and had a really scary fight. Shadow's Super form ended up running out of juice before Metal Shadow's, but Shadow transformed again and chopped Metal Shadow's head off."

Rouge inquired, "He transformed again, you say? What kind of transformation was it?"

Big placed his hand on his chin and thought for a moment before answering, "Well, he was dark red, and he had black energy around him, and he called himself Jupiter or something like that."

Big was met only by Rouge's and Omega's curious looks as a reaction.

* * *

Part II: A Chaotic Battle

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, and Silver turned to face Dark Shadow. Sonic looked at him curiously. "Shadow? Is that you? You sound different, and your fur is redder than I recall."

Dark Shadow sighed, "Not quite, you're correct in that this is Shadow's body, but his soul isn't in control right now. I am."

Knuckles exclaimed, "Wait a minute! I know that voice! You're Project Saturn! How did you steal Shadow's body?"

Silver wondered, "Who?"

Tails explained, "Saturn the Hedgehog, he's Shadow's younger brother. He was designed by Shadow's creator to be an artificial Master Emerald. He tried to use that power to become a god and take over the world, but we foiled his plot when the positive energy from the Chaos Emeralds rejected his evil heart and disintegrated him."

Dark Shadow's fur faded back to its normal black color, but he kept Saturn's voice. Saturn spoke through Shadow, "I didn't steal his body. He let me have it. Well, he's letting me have it for about two more minutes, so my time with you is short. As for the reddish tint, that's my Dark form. It's similar to your Dark form, Sonic, in that it uses negative chaos energy, but it's much stronger, so in actuality it's more like a negative version of your Super form."

Silver Madness identified Shadow. "Subject: Shadow the Hedgehog. Species: ultimate life-form. Classification: enemy. Threat level: minimal."

Shadow looked at Silver Madness. "I don't really have time to get my revenge on you now, Sonic and Knuckles. Besides, whether I like it or not, even with the Chaos Emeralds, I may die if Shadow tries to fight that dragon without your help, so I need the two of you alive for now."

Knuckles yelled, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Shadow calmly told Knuckles, "That machine is drawing power from most of the Master Emerald. I'm sure that once Shadow takes his body back, he'll share the Chaos Emeralds' power with you and Sonic, and the three of you will use your Super forms to fight this machine just like you fought me, but think about it: The Master Emerald is far superior to the Chaos Emeralds. In fact, the only reason the three of you defeated me was because I couldn't control my own energy, but this dragon won't have the same problem." He looked at Sonic and Knuckles. "Do you really think you can handle him?" Shadow gave an eerie smile, exactly like the ones Saturn used to give. "It might be best just to run away."

Sonic clenched his fist. "No way!"

Shadow chuckled with Saturn's voice, "In that case, here you go." He tossed the cyan Chaos Emerald to Sonic and the red Chaos Emerald to Knuckles. Shadow closed his eyes. "Good luck, Shadow, you've got your work cut out for you this time."

Shadow opened his eyes, and he took a deep breath. His voice was back to normal now. Shadow was controlling his own body again. Silver Madness swung his hand down at Shadow and the others. Shadow used Chaos Control in a flash of green light to transport everyone out of the way of Silver Madness's hand as its claws scraped across the ground. Shadow asked Sonic, "Hey, Sonic, just who is this creep?"

Sonic exclaimed, "Shadow! It's good to have you back!"

Shadow complained, "Save the reunion for after we scrap this freak. Who is he?"

Sonic said, "This is Silver Madness. He used to be Silver Sonic II, one of Metal Sonic's prototypes, but he stole power from the Master Emerald shards and used Chaos Unification to upgrade himself by merging with a bunch of this rubble. He has a veil of the Master Emerald's energy protecting him at all times, so normal attacks have no effect."

Shadow smirked. "In that case, let's hit him with something besides normal attacks."

Sonic and Knuckles smiled too. The three heroes closed their eyes, and the seven Chaos Emeralds began to float around them.

Silver asked Tails, "What's happening?"

Tails said, "Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles are using the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds to activate their Super forms!"

Silver wondered, "Super forms?"

Cream enthused, "Yeah, Super forms! They're so cool! Just watch!"

Silver returned his gaze to the three heroes. Silver Madness pointed his lower-right hand at the trio. Sonic opened his eyes to reveal that their color had changed from green to red. The quills on his fur spiked upward, and his fur changed from blue to a glowing, golden yellow. Shadow's fur also turned golden, and he gained a glowing aura as well. Knuckles's fur turned bright pink, and he gained a matching pink aura. Silver Madness identified the three again. "Subjects: Super Sonic, Super Knuckles, and Super Shadow. Species: hedgehog, echidna, and ultimate life-form. Classification: enemy. Threat level: moderate."

Super Sonic looked at Silver, Tails, Cream, and Cheese. "You four sit tight. Leave this to us." They nodded in agreement and backed away from the three superheroes so as to give them room.

Super Knuckles informed Super Shadow and reminded Super Sonic, "I can communicate with the Master Emerald and convince it to help us if I can get a hold of one of the shards, so we don't necessarily have to kill Silver Madness. We just have to get a shard!"

Super Sonic and Super Shadow affirmed, "Right!"

Silver Madness thrust his upper-left arm at the trio of superheroes. Super Knuckles grabbed the hand's middle finger and struggled to hold off the attack. Super Shadow jumped into the air. He floated there, and he began to charge a glowing, yellow ball of energy in his right hand. Super Sonic flew directly toward Silver Madness's face. Silver Madness fired a hailstorm of bullets from the guns on his upper-right wrist, but Super Sonic effortlessly avoided the slow bullets. When Super Sonic reached Silver Madness's face, he collided headfirst with the dragon's energy armor. However, this time, Super Sonic resisted the recoil, and he did not fly backward. Instead, he struggled against green energy, and he tried to reach for one of the Master Emerald shards embedded into Silver Madness's face. Super Knuckles was also struggling to hold off the massive machine's upper-left hand. Silver Madness used his lower-right hand to swat Super Sonic away from his face. Super Sonic skidded through the metal rubble when he landed. Super Knuckles pushed the dragon's upper-left hand to the side, and it connected with the ground behind him. Super Knuckles smiled triumphantly, but then he felt a stinging trickle of blood on his left cheek. He had been cut. Super Shadow observed, "I see… That armor not only acts as a defense against our attacks, but as a reinforcement to make his attacks strong enough to damage someone even in their Super form. Nevertheless, I wonder if he can handle this!" The yellow glow in Super Shadow's hand turned red. "Chaos Lance!" Super Shadow threw the Lance down at Silver Madness, but the mechanical dragon blocked using all four of its arms. There was a gigantic explosion of red light when the Lance connected. Silver grabbed Cream and Tails and pulled them to the ground. Cheese hid underneath Cream. Super Knuckles shielded his eyes. When the smoke cleared, Silver Madness was unscratched. Shadow was surprised. "What!"

Super Shadow heard Saturn's voice in his head, "You'll need to do better than that. It looks like Knuckles was right about your only hope being to get one of those shards."

Super Shadow yelled back at Saturn, "Stop harassing me!"

Super Sonic emerged from underneath a chunk of rubble. "Ouch, I didn't expect him to be able to hurt me in my Super form. I wonder what that explosion was."

Super Knuckles shouted back, "It was Super Shadow's Chaos Lance, but it had no effect!"

Super Shadow yelled at Super Knuckles, "You idiot! Don't take your eyes off your opponent!"

Super Knuckles widened his eyes and glanced toward Silver Madness. Silver Madness was immediately in front of him. The machine had used another high-velocity assault, and now it was about to swallow Super Knuckles whole. Super Knuckles barely dodged the attack, and Silver Madness dug its teeth into the ground where Super Knuckles had been standing. Super Knuckles sighed in relief, "Phew, that was close."

Super Sonic yelled to Super Shadow and Super Knuckles. "Guys! I have a plan! Buy me some time!" In a flash of yellow light, Super Sonic vanished.

Super Shadow complained, "Damn it, Sonic. You're just as hasty as ever. Oh well, I guess it can't be helped." He addressed Super Knuckles. "Knuckles, give me an earthquake!"

Super Knuckles responded with an enthusiastic, "You got it!" as he raised his right fist into the air. Super Knuckles punched the ground, and an earthquake occurred. The ground beneath Silver Madness crumbled like a cookie, and Silver Madness was thrown off balance.

Super Shadow smirked. "Perfect." The ultimate life-form used Chaos Control to appear in front of Silver Madness with a flash of yellow light. He shouted, "Chaos Blast!" The already unbalanced Silver Madness was struck completely off guard by the massive Chaos Blast. Although the great dragon's veil of energy still protected it from the attack, Silver Madness was obviously struggling to keep it up.

Silver Madness attempted to back away from the Chaos Blast, but Super Knuckles jumped behind him. The pink echidna screamed, "Oh no, you don't!" He grabbed the back of the tank that made up Silver Madness's lower half, and he pushed the robotic dragon further into Super Shadow's Chaos Blast.

Silver, Tails, Cream, and Cheese took cover behind some large portions of metal rubble. Silver thought aloud, "I've never seen a battle this intense!"

The Chaos Blast subsided, and there were a few assorted scratches on Silver Madness's front half. However, he remained virtually unharmed. The silver dragon's automatic repair system fixed the little imperfections that the Chaos Blast created. The upper half of Silver Madness's body spun around, and he grabbed Super Shadow and Super Knuckles in his upper-right and upper-left hands, respectively. Super Shadow thought, _This isn't good!_ Silver Madness clapped Super Shadow and Super Knuckles into each other. The two superheroes screamed in pain. The great dragon tossed the heroes forward, and they skidded across the ground.

Super Knuckles's body was covered in pain. He could barely move, much less stand. Super Shadow was not in much better condition. Super Knuckles's fur blinked red, and Super Shadow's blinked black. Their Super forms were running out. Super Knuckles said, "Darn it, Sonic. Where are you?"

Meanwhile, Super Sonic was floating in the Earth's exosphere. He curled himself into a ball and started spinning in place. He was building up a massive amount of kinetic energy. This kinetic energy mixed with his own chaos energy and formed a golden veil around him. The superhero charged the attack for as long as he felt he could. Super Sonic thought, _I've got to put everything I have into one attack!_ Super Sonic performed Light Speed Attack. He flew down toward the Earth at the speed of light. His body caught on fire when he passed through the ozone layer, but his Super form protected him from the flames. In an instant, he came crashing down onto Silver Madness like a meteor. A gigantic crater appeared in the ground beneath the dragon. The attack broke through Silver Madness's energy armor, and Super Sonic smashed the silver dragon's back. Silver Madness roared in pain. The silver juggernaut turned around and grabbed Super Sonic. The monster's automatic repair system was fixing the damage done to its back. Silver Madness started to squeeze Super Sonic. Super Sonic tried to use Chaos Control to get out of Silver Madness's grip, but the energy from the Master Emerald was preventing Super Sonic's positive chaos energy from materializing. Super Sonic could do nothing but helplessly scream in pain as Silver Madness was squeezing him to death. This was the horrifying sight that Amy saw.


	27. Fallen Hero

Super Knuckles looked at Super Shadow. Neither superhero could stand. Super Knuckles inquired, "Hey, Shadow, are you still breathing over there?"

Super Shadow pushed himself up with his hands and coughed severely. He still could not stand, but he was holding himself up on his hands and knees. Super Shadow gave Super Knuckles a harsh glare. "Of course I am, Knucklehead. I'm the ultimate life-form. It'll take way more than that to kill me." Regardless of his pride, Super Shadow coughed severely again.

Super Knuckles continued to lie on the ground. He knew that if he started moving like Super Shadow, he'd end up hacking up the secretion from his broken ribs, just like Super Shadow. Super Knuckles observed, "It doesn't look like either of us can fight right now. I've never felt so useless." The pink echidna looked up and saw Super Sonic being squeezed by Silver Madness. "Darn it! He's got Sonic too! I wish I could go help him!"

Super Shadow gave another loud cough. He took a moment to breathe, and then he responded, "I don't."

Super Knuckles was confused. "What?"

Super Shadow criticized, "That faker is a complete imbecile. If his last attack was strong enough to break through Silver Madness's armor, he should've taken advantage of that and snatched one of the Master Emerald shards, but he wasted his one shot. Now, he's paying the price for his stupidity. This is his punishment for dooming us."

Super Knuckles became agitated. "How could you say that? Sonic is dying!"

Super Shadow did not answer. He could not hear Super Knuckles because another voice was talking to him. It was Saturn. Shadow's younger brother said, "This is a bit of a predicament. You're body is completely broken, and you're running out of energy for your Super form. Lucky for you, Silver Madness is too busy wasting Super Sonic to finish you off, but once Super Sonic kicks the bucket, you and Knuckles will be next."

Super Shadow retorted, "Shut up."

Super Knuckles yelled, "What did you say to me?"

Super Shadow addressed Super Knuckles. "I wasn't talking to you!"

Super Knuckles asked, "Then who were you talking to, huh?"

Super Shadow answered, "Saturn, he won't leave me be."

Super Knuckles shouted, "You're both morons!" Super Shadow and Saturn were surprised by this remark. Super Knuckles continued, "I don't know how the hell Saturn got into your body, but I don't really care. I may not be the smartest guy around, but even I can see that this is the time to put our differences aside and work together, but you two are too blinded by your bickering with one another! Our only chance to win this battle is to cooperate! Why can't you both see that?" Super Shadow looked at the ground thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, Tails tried to run toward Silver Madness. Silver grabbed him. "What do you think you're doing?" Silver questioned.

Tails screamed as he struggled to break free, "Let me go! Sonic's dying! He needs me!"

Silver yelled, "There's nothing you can do! Sonic wouldn't want you to throw your life away in a useless attempt to save him!" Tails kept struggling for a moment, but then he stopped. The young fox continued to grit his teeth and clench his fists, but he nonetheless controlled himself. Cream and Cheese were hugging each other. They watched, helpless and frightened, as this gargantuan, silver dragon squeezed the life out of Super Sonic.

As Super Sonic's bones cracked and his body was crushed, the golden superhero could do nothing but wonder. He thought, _How is this happening? Am I really losing? Am I really going to die here? Super Sonic defeated Perfect Chaos, FinalHazard, the Metal Overlord, Super Ix, the Egg Wizard, Perfect Dark Gaia, and even Infinite Saturn. Am I really going to be killed by Silver Madness? Will that be the name that this world comes to fear? Not Chaos, not Hazard, not Overlord, not Ix, not Wizard, not Darkness, not even Infinity, but Madness… Is_ Madness _the word that this world shall fear?_

Super Sonic's fur turned from golden to blue. His quills relaxed to their original shape, and his eyes faded back to their peaceful green color. Silver Madness no longer squeezed him. The dragon dropped the fallen hero. Sonic closed his eyes.

Silver caught Sonic using his psychokinetic powers. The futuristic hedgehog ran over to his dying, blue friend. He grabbed Sonic gently, and he slowly lowered him to the ground. Sonic looked so peaceful. Tails, Cream, and Cheese were panicked. The three were all fighting back tears. Silver checked Sonic's pulse. He felt nothing. He looked toward the children, their eyes so full of simultaneous hope and dread. He could not find the words to tell them, so he simply shook his head. The three no longer held back their tears. Silver looked at them, crying and weak. He looked at Sonic, the hyperactive speedster who had finally reached peace. He looked at Super Shadow and Super Knuckles; their bodies were broken, and they ran out of energy for their Super forms. The two pillars of strength which held up their group could no longer stand. Silver remained uninjured. He was the only person left who was fully capable of combat. Sonic had already been taken, and the others were helpless. They would undeniably die if he did nothing. Silver clenched his fists. There was no longer any question. He had to protect them. The seven Chaos Emeralds glowed. A strange power began to flow through Silver's body. He had never felt it before, yet it seemed familiar. Silver's grey fur faded into a golden color. His yellow eyes turned red. Super Silver was the sentinel. He would protect the weak.

Silver Madness began to identify Silver. "Subject: Super Silv—" The dragon was interrupted when Super Silver used his enhanced psychokinetic energy to rip off its lower jaw. Super Silver focused his energy and tried to rip off Silver Madness's upper-right arm, but the energy from the Master Emerald shards embedded into the arm prevented him from doing so. Instead, Super Silver ripped of the dragon's lower-right arm. Silver Madness's automatic repair system began rebuilding its missing body parts, and it charged toward Super Silver with a high-velocity assault, but the futuristic superhero used his psychokinetic energy to push Silver Madness back.

Super Silver turned to face Tails and Cream. "You two! Look after Shadow and Knuckles!" The children simply nodded. Super Silver flew toward Silver Madness. Silver Madness pointed its upper-left arm at him, and the guns on its wrists fired an uncountable number of bullets at the superhero, but Super Silver put a barrier of golden, psychokinetic energy around himself to block every single one of the bullets.

Meanwhile, Sonic found himself in a bright, white room. It was empty, but it was impossible to tell the room's size because he could not tell where the walls became the floor or where the ceiling became the walls. There was a familiar, orange echidna in the room with him. Sonic asked, "Tikal? Is that you?"

Tikal nodded. "Yes, Sonic, it is I."

Sonic wondered, "I thought you were dead."

Tikal nodded again. "True, I am no longer of the physical world, but I am far from dead."

Sonic inquired, "Still, you're not alive, and I can see you, and we're in this empty white room, so does that mean I'm dead?"

Tikal shook her head. "You are not dead. The immense pain that your body experienced put you in a state of shock, which caused you to go into cardiac arrest, so you have no pulse. However, your brain cells can survive for approximately three minutes without oxygen."

Sonic tried to figure out what she was saying. "So I'm only half-dead?"

Tikal nodded. "For the next two and a half minutes, after that, you're full dead."

Sonic asked, "Is there anything I can do? My friends still need me! Silver Madness is going to kill them if I don't stop him!"

"There is everything you can do," Tikal explained. "It is your body. This is your heart. You are in control. You must simply choose to awaken."

Sonic wondered, "This is my heart? It's so empty."

Tikal smiled. "No, naïve Sonic, your heart is not empty. Can't you see? It's full of light."


	28. The Colored Phoenix

Sonic's sight went black again. He felt something wet trickling down his face. Was it blood? No, it was not warm enough to be blood. It felt more like water. Was it sweat? No, he was not hot nor exhausted. The liquid was not coming from his body. Was it rain? No, he only felt the liquid on his face. His body was dry, and he could feel the cool, twilight air blowing through his fur. Sonic opened his eyes, and he saw the source of the liquid. There were teardrops on his cheeks. He was not crying. The tears belonged to someone else. His vision was still blurry, but there was a pink figure above him. He blinked to clear his vision, and he saw Amy sobbing above him. His vision circled around him. There were more faces above him. There were Tails, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, Shadow, Metal Sonic, Vector, Big, Froggy, Rouge, and Omega. Where was Silver? What were Vector, Amy, Metal Sonic, Big, Froggy, Rouge, and Omega doing here? These questions raced through Sonic's head. However, before he could ask them, Amy was hugging his neck. All of the faces turned to smiles, except Omega's and Metal Sonic's, whose expressions were perpetually emotionless. Tails, Cream, and Cheese had also been crying. Sonic could tell by the redness of their eyes. Sonic asked softly, "Amy? Why are you here? What are all of you doing here?"

Amy hugged him tighter. "Don't worry, Sonic. It's okay now. We're here."

Vector said, "I came back here after reporting what I knew to the media. You didn't think that I would just abandon you guys, did you?"

Rouge chuckled, "Omega and I met up with Big over to the west of here. We wiped out Metal Shadow and came this way because we saw the commotion."

Metal Sonic explained, "Amy was hurt by Silver Sonic II. I took her to Central City Hospital, but she demanded that I take her to see you."

Sonic's eyes wandered. He looked at Tails. "Don't cry, Tails. Be strong." Tails wiped away his tears and gave a dedicated nod. Sonic looked toward Big and Froggy. "Big, you found Froggy. I'm so happy for you." The blue hero smiled in spite of his injured weakness. His gaze moved to Metal Sonic. "Thank you so much, for taking care of Amy, I don't know what she'd do without you." He turned to Amy and saw the bandages on her midsection underneath her dress. "You're hurt, Amy. It's not safe for you here."

Amy kept crying. "I don't care. I need to be here for you, Sonic. I'll always be here for you because… I love you."

Sonic was unsure how to respond. Instead, he asked Shadow weakly, "Where's Silver?"

Shadow answered, "He's Super Silver now. Somehow he managed to figure out how to use a Super form. He's beating the tar out of Silver Madness."

Sonic said, "He won't last. Silver Madness is too strong."

Knuckles lamented, "If only we had some of those Master Emerald shards!"

Vector looked at Knuckles curiously. "You mean this?" Vector held out a small piece of the Master Emerald. "I found it on my way here." Knuckles widened his eyes. He looked at the rest of the crowd. Metal Sonic revealed his own Master Emerald shard. Rouge pulled one from her pocket. Knuckles's jaw dropped.

Metal Sonic, Vector, and Rouge handed him the Emerald shards. He began to mentally communicate with the Master Emerald. He thought, _Master Emerald, heed my call, and help us. Grant us the strength to defeat this monster who so wrongfully misuses your power._ Energy from the Master Emerald shards began to flow into the seven Chaos Emeralds that were scattered across the ground. The Chaos Emeralds glowed with white light. Then, they expanded. The seven Emeralds grew to about ten times their original size, and then the white light faded. The Chaos Emeralds were now Super Emeralds.

Their vast reservoir of positive chaos energy began to flow into Sonic. Vector, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, Tails, Metal Sonic, Rouge, Omega, Big, Froggy, and Shadow backed up, but Amy stayed by his side. Sonic placed his hand softly on Amy's cheek. He said, "Amy…"

Amy still had tears in her eyes, but she was no longer sobbing uncontrollably. "Yes, Sonic?"

Sonic smiled, "Thank you." Amy moved closer to Sonic. Sonic closed his eyes. The massive amount of energy flowing into Sonic created a blinding light. Amy's lips kissed Sonic's in the light.

Meanwhile, Super Silver was exhausting himself. The futuristic superhero was now panting. Silver Madness's automatic repair system was rebuilding the treads on the wheels of its lower body. Super Silver had psychokinetically removed them in order to inhibit the dragon's movements. Super Silver clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. He concentrated hard. Psychokinetic energy wrapped around the bottom of Silver Madness's torso. Super Silver opened his eyes and screamed in fury. He detached the upper half of Silver Madness's body from the tank. Then, he caused the tank to implode, and he dropped the upper half of Silver Madness's body. The dragon did not have enough spare parts to rebuild the entire lower half of its body. Super Silver was now content that the beast was immobile. He sat down. Both his ESP and Super form had been depleted. He was fatigued, but he was content for a few moments. The upper half of Silver Madness's body startled Silver. It burst to life and lunged at him without its lower half. The gargantuan juggernaut clenched its upper-right fist. The dragon roared ferociously, and it thrust the fist down toward the exhausted hero. Silver closed his eyes and winced.

When Silver gained courage enough to open his eyes, he saw a glowing hedgehog between him and Silver Madness. The hedgehog was effortlessly holding back Silver Madness's punch with his right hand. The hedgehog turned around and gave Silver a reassuring smile. Silver's eyes widened. The hedgehog was Sonic. His quills were spiked upward as if he were in his Super form, but his eyes remained green, and his fur was different. Instead of maintaining its bright, golden glow, his fur flashed five different colors: yellow, white, lavender, green, and cyan. Silver was awestruck. Silver Madness growled nervously, "Subject: Hyper… Sonic… Threat level: maximal…" Silver Madness did not finish its observation. It lunged toward Hyper Sonic with its mouth wide open. Hyper Sonic did not flinch as the mechanical dragon swallowed him whole.

Silver gasped, "Sonic!"

Rays of multicolored light burst from Silver Madness's abdomen, which instantly fell apart. Silver Madness collapsed. Hyper Sonic floated motionlessly out of Silver Madness's torso. Silver wondered, "Sonic, how did you..."

Hyper Sonic smiled. "Knuckles found some Master Emerald shards. He convinced the Master Emerald to use some of its power to enhance the positive energy in the Chaos Emeralds. Now, they've become Super Emeralds. The upgrading of the Chaos Emeralds consequently upgraded my Super form to this, my Hyper form. This is my strongest transformation."

Silver was slightly intimidated by how Hyper Sonic's voice echoed whenever he spoke. Still, he did not hesitate to ask, "So then why didn't I become Hyper Silver?"

Hyper Sonic explained, "Not everyone with a Super form can also use a Hyper form. Manipulating the Super Emeralds' power is much more difficult than manipulating the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Not even Shadow has a Hyper form yet."

Silver inquired, "So are you the only person with a Hyper form?"

Hyper Sonic smiled. "Nope."

Silver wanted to ask who else had a Hyper form, but he did not get the chance. The loud, roaring voice of Silver Madness interrupted, "No…" Silver and Hyper Sonic looked back toward the defeated robot in surprise. "I am supreme… I will not be defeated…" Because Silver Madness could not rebuild the entire tank as the lower half of its body, the dragon instead replaced the lower half of its body with a long, serpentine tail. Silver Madness raised its upper two arms, and they began to spread mechanically into massive, metal wings, complete with hover rockets. The rockets activated, and Silver Madness slowly rose into the air. The dragon roared, "I am the Overlord!"

Hyper Sonic was now facing the Silver Overlord, but he still spoke to Silver, "Stay out of this. He's even stronger now than he was before. Chaos energy is enriched by emotions. Now that he's beginning to feel emotions, more specifically anger, he'll be able to draw more power from those Master Emerald shards. Just sit tight and leave this to me."

Silver nodded in affirmation, and Hyper Sonic disappeared in a flash of white light. In the next instant, Hyper Sonic reappeared in the air with the Silver Overlord. The Silver Overlord activated the guns along its wrists, and it fired a deadly shower of bullets, all of which were enhanced with power from the Master Emerald shards. Hyper Sonic dodged all of the bullets except for one that was aimed directly between his eyes. Hyper Sonic caught this last bullet between his index and middle fingers. Then, he used Chaos Control in another flash of white light to appear directly in front of the Silver Overlord. Hyper Sonic socked the Silver Overlord with a right-handed punch that sent the dragon flying miles backward. The Silver Overlord recovered itself midair; it now hovered several miles above Hyper Sonic's friends: Shadow, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Big, Froggy, Rouge, Omega, Metal Sonic, and Vector. Hyper Sonic punched at the Silver Overlord again, but the flying juggernaut blocked with its left arm. The Silver Overlord proceeded to throw a right-handed punch of its own at the multicolored superhero, but Hyper Sonic blocked the massive attack with his right arm.

Hyper Sonic's friends watched the battle from below. "Silver Madness transformed again! He's fighting on par even against Hyper Sonic!" Tails shouted.

Knuckles yelled, "We have to help him!"

Vector exclaimed, "There's nothing we can do! They're way up there, and we're way down here. Besides, you and Shadow are badly injured, and you've already exhausted your Super forms, so you wouldn't stand a chance!"

Knuckles smirked confidently. "Don't underestimate me." The red echidna addressed Tails. "It's been a while since we've done this. Do you remember what you're doing?"

Tails nodded. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then I'm sure."

Cream asked, "What are you two talking about?"

Knuckles assured, "Just watch this." Massive amounts of positive chaos energy began flowing from the Super Emeralds into Knuckles and Tails. Knuckles's many injuries began healing, and his fur changed into a bright pink color. A massive aura of pink energy also surrounded the glowing echidna.

Amy asked, "Is he Super Knuckles again?"

Shadow gritted his teeth. "No, he's Hyper Knuckles now."

Meanwhile, Tails's fur began pulsating a bright golden color, and he was surrounded by a golden aura of his own. "Is he Hyper Tails?" Cream inquired.

"Not quite," the golden fox exclaimed, "my control of chaos energy is nowhere near as strong as Sonic's or Knuckles's. Because of my young age, I need Super Emeralds just to activate my Super form."

Metal Sonic spoke, "He is Super Tails."

Super Tails floated into the sky without spinning his tails. Hyper Knuckles moved swiftly with an afterimage appearing behind him. The echidna punched a hole through Metal Sonic's gut. Metal Sonic looked at him curiously, and the rest of the crowd withheld their gasps. Hyper Knuckles pulled his fist out of Metal Sonic's abdomen, and the blue robot's automatic repair system began to repair the hole. Hyper Knuckles said, "That's for earlier." Then, the pink superhero jumped up and grabbed onto Super Tails's ankle.

Rouge teased, "You really need to learn how to fly in your Super and Hyper forms, Knuckles. It must be embarrassing being the only one who can't."

Hyper Knuckles retorted, "Shut up! At least I have Super and Hyper forms!" Super Tails flew with Hyper Knuckles toward Hyper Sonic and the Silver Overlord before Hyper Knuckles could pick any more fights.

Shadow had been looking down thoughtfully throughout the entire conversation. Then, he announced, "I'm going to help too."

Vector wondered, "What, do you have a Hyper form too?"

Shadow replied, "No, but I can still help." Then, the black hero addressed the crowd as a whole. "Not all of you know yet, but the spirit of Saturn the Hedgehog currently resides in my body. So far, we've been less than agreeable with one another, but he's agreed to work together with me for this."

Rouge said, "Saturn, huh? So that's what Big was talking about."

Cream asked, "How can you two work together?"

Shadow grinned maliciously and said with Saturn's voice, "Shadow and I are going to simultaneously control the newly-replenished reservoir of positive and negative chaos energy within the Super Emeralds. We won't be able to control enough to access a Hyper form, but by controlling both light and darkness, the two of us shall essentially become the Master of Chaos, which will put us at a level at least equal to that of someone with a Hyper form."

Shadow's voice returned to normal. "However, if either of us loses control of our respective positive or negative chaos energies, we'll both be destroyed by their immense power."

Big said, "That sounds awfully dangerous."

Shadow responded, "It is, but I'm willing to take the risk."

Rouge asked, "Why would you risk your life like that? Sonic and his friends can handle Silver Madness on their own."

Omega added, "Affirmative, the prospect of you taking that risk is foolishly unnecessary."

Shadow smirked. "It is necessary. I can't just sit back and let them show me up like this."

Vector nodded his head. "Do what you have to, Shadow."

Shadow nodded back. He addressed Saturn's spirit. "Are you ready?"

Saturn's voice erupted from Shadow's mouth, "Let's do this thing! I never thought the afterlife would be so exciting! Ha-ha-ha! A battle like this makes me wish I had my old body back!"

Shadow closed his eyes. He relaxed his body. Positive and negative chaos energy began to simultaneously flow from the Super Emeralds into his body.

Meanwhile, Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, and Super Tails were all fighting against the gargantuan Silver Overlord. The Silver Overlord punched at Hyper Sonic with its right fist, but Hyper Sonic blocked with his right forearm. Hyper Sonic punched the silver dragon's right fist aside with his left hand. Meanwhile, Super Tails grabbed Hyper Knuckles by the wrist and began spinning him around in circles. Super Tails then threw Hyper Knuckles at the Silver Overlord, which took a severe hit to the gut from Hyper Knuckles's twin fists. The metal across the dragon's exterior actually rippled from the shockwave of the attack. Hyper Sonic yelled, "Knuckles, get out of the way!" Hyper Knuckles pressed his feet against the Silver Overlord's chest and jumped back toward Super Tails, who caught him by the right wrist and held him midair. While the flying juggernaut was still regaining itself after being hit by Hyper Knuckles's attack, Hyper Sonic fired a massive beam of white energy at the Silver Overlord's midsection, the front of which shattered explosively when the beam connected with it. As the Silver Overlord's automatic repair system began to rebuild the missing front half of its abdomen, Hyper Sonic noticed something: Within the center of the Silver Overlord's midsection was Silver Sonic II, connected to the interior of the massive dragon by an uncountable number of thin, black wires. In Silver Sonic II's chest was a large chunk of the Master Emerald, which was likely serving as a replacement for the robot's power core. Silver Sonic II gave Hyper Sonic a brief, menacing glare before the Silver Overlord's automatic repair system fixed its abdomen and covered the metallic puppeteer. Hyper Sonic's eyes widened with realization. He shouted at Super Tails and Hyper Knuckles, "Guys! Silver Sonic II is inside of the Silver Overlord's stomach! Do you know what that means? Silver Sonic II didn't transform! The Silver Overlord is just a massive robot that Silver Sonic II put together using pieces of the Eggman's crashed airship and energy from the Master Emerald shards! He's controlling the Silver Overlord from the inside, so if we destroy Silver Sonic II, the Silver Overlord will be useless!"

Hyper Knuckles shouted back, "But how are we going to get to Silver Sonic II? That glorified scrapheap keeps fixing itself before we can do any real damage, and it won't be dumb enough to swallow one of us!"

Super Tails suggested, "Hyper Sonic's Light Speed Attack could probably penetrate all the way through the Silver Overlord, but he'd need time to charge it up."

Hyper Sonic smirked. "I was just thinking the same thing, Tails. You and Knuckles hold off this monster while I prepare for the coolest Light Speed Attack you've ever seen!" Hyper Sonic curled into a ball and spun in place as multicolored particles of chaos and kinetic energy began to twirl around him.

Super Tails flew toward the Silver Overlord with Hyper Knuckles. The Silver Overlord looked past them at Hyper Sonic. More quickly than Hyper Knuckles or Super Tails could see, the Silver Overlord flew past them and punched Hyper Sonic with its gargantuan left fist. Hyper Sonic involuntarily uncurled himself and flew backward. Hyper Knuckled exclaimed, "Darn it! He's too fast! We can't keep up with him!"

Hyper Sonic caught himself midair. The Silver Overlord flapped its metal wings and ascended higher. The massive monster opened its mouth, and a large ball of dark chaos energy began forming in front of its gaping jaw. The Silver Overlord looked down toward its prey. It said in an unnaturally bellowing voice, "Master Cannon." Instantly, the ball of negative chaos energy transformed into a black beam and rocketed toward Hyper Sonic from above. Hyper Sonic looked behind him. Below him were Amy, Cream, Cheese, Big, Froggy, Vector, Metal Sonic, Rouge, and Omega. If he dodged the Master Cannon, it would annihilate them.

Hyper Sonic clenched his fists. "Dang it!" He concentrated a large amount of chaos energy into his hands, and he grabbed the Master Cannon. He tried to hold off the dark blast, but the attack was too powerful, and it was slowly forcing Hyper Sonic downward. Hyper Sonic struggled with all his might, but it was to no avail. Then, Super Tails and Hyper Knuckles came to his side.

Super Tails yelled, "Knuckles, we can't let this thing hit the ground!"

Hyper Knuckles affirmed, "I know that!" The young fox and the tough echidna grabbed the Master Cannon alongside Hyper Sonic. Hyper Sonic was momentarily startled by his friends' assistance, but then he smiled. Together, the trio was able to hold the Master Cannon in place, but they still could neither push it back nor redirect it. Hyper Knuckles complained, "This isn't good! We can't hold it off forever! At this rate we'll all be wiped out!"

Hyper Sonic shouted, "Keep trying! We've got to give it everything we have!" but try as they might, the three could not budge the heavy attack as they struggled against its relentless pressure.

"Is that really the best the three of you can muster? Your weakness disgusts me," two familiar voices said this simultaneously. Without giving an inch, Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, and Super Tails looked behind them. They were awestruck by what they saw. There was Shadow, but his appearance was significantly different. His normally black fur was now a dark red, and the normally red parts of his fur now glowed with a golden yellow color. The streaks on his ankles and wrists had been replaced with a golden, flame-like pattern, and though his eyes were still red, his pupils were just black slits. Shadow had an animalistic grin, and his arms were spread wide in a mocking pose. Immense amounts of both positive and negative chaos energy were flowing through and around his body, and he spoke with both his voice and the voice of Saturn.

Hyper Sonic asked, "Shadow! What are you doing here? Wait, are you even Shadow, or are you Saturn?"

The twilight hedgehog lifted a finger and smirked. "Call me Shadurn. Now, step aside."

Hyper Knuckles retorted, "In case you haven't noticed, we're a little busy trying to keep this beam of darkness from killing our friends!"

Shadurn gave a malicious smile, "I can't guarantee your safety if you're in my way."

Hyper Knuckles was about to say something again, but Hyper Sonic passed him a serious yet reassuring glance. Hyper Sonic turned his attention to Super Tails, who nodded seriously as a reply.

The three superheroes jumped out of the Master Cannon's path. The beam of darkness continued down toward Shadurn, who merely grinned confidently as the massive wave of negative energy came crashing toward him. Shadurn said calmly, "Chaos Blast." A humungous sphere of red chaos energy instantly surrounded Shadurn. Shadurn's Chaos Blast completely eradicated the Silver Overlord's Master Cannon, and the Silver Overlord was noticeably disturbed by this. The silver dragon fell down toward Shadurn and punched at him with its right fist, but Shadurn merely said, "Chaos Shockwave." A large aura of red chaos energy appeared around Shadurn. Not only did this shockwave guard against the Silver Overlord's punch, it expanded to send the massive dragon tumbling backward. Then, Shadurn said, "Chaos Control," and he appeared in front of the stumbling dragon in a flash of dark, golden light. Lastly, he said, "Chaos Eruption," and he punched the Silver Overlord in the chest. A surge of positive and negative chaos energy was sent through the dragon and created a series of explosions, which began at the point of Shadurn's punch and spread outward to cover the entire front half of the Silver Overlord's body. The dragon roared in some cross between frustration and robotic agony.

Hyper Knuckles yelled to Hyper Sonic, "Sonic! Now's your chance! Start preparing your Light Speed Attack!"

Hyper Sonic responded, "Right, I'm on it!" Again, the hyperactive hedgehog curled himself into a ball and spun in place. Particles of multicolored chaos and kinetic energy started spinning around him, and their speed increased until they formed nothing short of a spherical veil around the multicolored hero.

Meanwhile, Shadurn was charging an attack of his own in the form of a red ball of energy in his right hand. When the spontaneous explosions erupting from the Silver Overlord's body finally subsided, Shadurn screamed, "Chaos Lance!" The twilight hero fired a red lance surrounded by both positive and negative chaos energy. The Silver Overlord tried to dodge the attack, but it failed. The Chaos Lance pierced straight through the joint which connected the dragon's left wing to its shoulder, and the wing was sliced clean off. The Silver Overlord started falling, spiraling out of control as its automatic repair system worked persistently to replace the outer armor of the front of its body along with its entire left wing. Shadurn yelled, "Sonic! Finish it now!"

The Silver Overlord looked up toward Hyper Sonic and tried to guard, but it was too slow. In an instant, Hyper Sonic had flown completely through its abdomen. Though the hole was no larger than Sonic himself, within the metal dragon could be seen Silver Sonic II, which had a gaping hole in its own chest as well. The Master Emerald shards fell out of its chest. Silver Sonic II announced regretfully, "Battery depleted, systems dying… Damn it… I do not really want to die…" The dragon had been slain.


	29. Resolution

The next day, the worried mother of Cream the Rabbit, a sweet lady by the name of Vanilla, was watching the news channel from the living room of her vacation home in the city of Metropolis. The anchorwoman continued her broadcast, "It's been eight days since the mass destruction which occurred in Metropolis, and still volunteers, firefighters, construction workers, and other helpful personnel are working nonstop to repair this great city. Luckily, there have been no reports of civilian death or injury during this time of reconstruction." Vanilla gave a long sigh. "In other news, local law enforcement has received another report from the Chaotix Detective Agency involving the case that many are calling, 'Eggman's Resurrection.' Apparently, Dr. Eggman's reappearance two days ago is linked to the falling of Angel Island, which occurred the day before. According to Detective Crocodile, the head of Chaotix, Dr. Eggman stole the Master Emerald from its altar on Angel Island in order to power one of his machines. Without the Emerald's power, Angel Island fell into the sea. Once Eggman obtained the power of the Master Emerald, he sent his massive airship, called the Egg Narwhal, in what many believe was intended to be an attack on Central City. Luckily, local hero Sonic the Hedgehog worked together with Detective Crocodile, an anonymous G.U.N. agent, and several of their friends to crash the Narwhal harmlessly in a field north of Central City, but Eggman's assault did not end there. Shortly after the Egg Narwhal crashed, a massive robotic dragon, which Detective Crocodile calls, 'the Silver Overlord,' rose from the debris of the airship, and attacked Sonic the Hedgehog along with his friends. However, Sonic was able to use the power of the Master Emerald along with the seven Chaos Emeralds to destroy the Silver Overlord. Although Dr. Eggman was lost in the commotion, and his whereabouts are currently unknown, Detective Crocodile assures civilians that it will be some time before the mad scientist can get back on his feet, and when he does, Sonic will be there to stop him." Vanilla turned off the television.

She wondered aloud, "Oh, Cream, where are you? I hope you're safe." Almost as Fate's response to her plea, she heard a knock on her door. "Who is it?" she asked.

She heard Cream's voice, "Mom, it's me. I'm back."

Vanilla burst through the door. She tackled Cream with a tearful, loving embrace. "Oh, Cream, you're safe! I'm so glad you're back!" Cream was slightly startled, but she smiled and hugged her mother in response. Vanilla looked up past Cream to see Cheese and Vector. She let go of Cream and stood up. Then she hugged Vector tightly. "Thank you, Vector, for bringing her home safely to me and taking care of her like you promised, I don't know what I'd do without you." Vector blushed slightly as he looked down toward Cream and Cheese. Cream merely winked as a reply.

Vector cleared his throat. "Ahem, you're quite welcome, Ms. Rabbit. I'm only doing my job."

Vanilla released Vector from her hug. Cream tugged on her mother's dress. Vanilla turned her attention toward her daughter. "Do you need something, Cream? Is there anything I can do for you after your tiresome adventure?"

Cream smiled. "No thanks, Mom, I was just wondering if we could make a small trip. You see, there's somewhere that Mr. Vector and I really have to go. You can come too if you'd like."

Vanilla inquired, "Oh really, where will we be going then?"

Meanwhile, Amy was just waking up in her hospital bed. She had taken pain medication earlier to help ease the suffering in her ribcage, and she had just finished an energizing nap. She sat up, but she was careful not to move too quickly. She looked to her right to see Big sitting in a chair next to her with Froggy on his head. She asked, "Big, how long have you been here?"

Big responded with a heartwarming smile, "I've been here the whole time you were napping to watch over you."

Amy chuckled, "You know, I didn't ask you to watch over me."

Big's smile remained. "I know, but I'm your friend, which means I have to be there for you even if you don't ask me to." Amy smiled too now.

Amy's doctor entered the room. "Ms. Rose, how are you feeling?"

Amy replied, "I feel a lot better actually."

The doctor said, "That's good because you have quite a few guests waiting to see you."

Amy wondered aloud, "Guests?" The doctor opened the door to her room. Standing in the hallway were Cream, Cheese, Vanilla, Vector, Tails, and Sonic. Amy's smile brightened as her friends entered the room.

The doctor addressed the guests with a polite nod. "I'll just leave her to you then."

Sonic smiled. "Thanks, Doc, we'll make sure she doesn't get too worked up."

Amy observed disbelievingly, "You all came to visit me at once?"

Cream chuckled, "Of course, Amy, we all couldn't wait to come visit you."

Cheese enthused, "Cho-Cho!"

Vector told her, "In case you're wondering, we still have no clue where Dr. Eggman disappeared to. Metal Sonic vanished too, and we can't find him anywhere either."

Sonic scratched the back of his head nonchalantly. "I'm sure they'll turn up before long."

Tails asked the crowd, "Do you think that Metal Sonic is still our enemy?"

Sonic patted Tails on the head. "Tails, after all of this, I'm really not sure anymore."

Vector added, "Well, he's sure to help Dr. Eggman with whatever plan he's concocting, and that includes wiping all of us out should the need arise, but I don't think he has anything personal against us, so we should be fine around him as long as he's not under direct orders to kill us."

Amy smiled. "He's good at heart. He's just a slave to Eggman's programming."

Cream asked, "Do you think that someday we'll be able to free him?"

Amy responded, "I don't know, Cream, but I'd say it's worth a shot."

Vanilla chuckled, "Enough of this morbid talk, I baked a batch of cookies especially for this occasion." Vanilla revealed a transparent, plastic container containing a few dozen chocolate chip cookies. "Let's dig in!" There were several cries of agreement as the crowd began to consume the scrumptious, homemade cookies.

When the cookies had all been eaten, the crowd said their farewells to Amy and departed. Everyone had left except for Sonic and Tails. Amy spoke to the two of them, "Oh yeah, I just thought of something. Where are Silver and Knuckles?"

Sonic said, "I was wondering when you'd ask that. Knuckles stayed up all last night collecting every last piece of the Master Emerald. After he put it back together, he headed off toward Angel Island to return it to its alter."

Tails continued, "As for Silver, well he's sort of vanished too. We're pretty sure he's not with Metal Sonic or Eggman, but we can't find him. Vector said that after he was done visiting here, he was going to regroup with the other Chaotix Agents, and they were going to search for Silver."

Sonic went on to say, "We're going to help find Silver too, and after that, we're going to see if Silver wants to help us find Eggman again and kick his fat butt!"

Amy chuckled, "Oh, that sounds like a plan to me." After that, there was an awkward silence. Amy broke the silence by saying, "Tails, would you mind if I spoke to Sonic alone for a minute?"

Tails said, "Sure thing." He turned to Sonic. "Meet me at my workshop when you're done here. Before we find Silver and Eggman, we still have to find the pieces of the Tornado in the rubble of Eggman's airship."

Sonic responded, "Find this; find that. Man, we're never going to get a break, are we?" Tails just chuckled as he left the room.

Amy looked up at Sonic. "Hey, Sonic, do you remember what happened yesterday when you first turned into Hyper Sonic?"

In truth, Sonic remembered very clearly, but he denied it. "Um, no…"

Amy twiddled her thumbs and said nervously, "Well, we kind of, sort of kissed, so…" Amy hesitated, "are we, like, a couple now or something?"

Sonic blushed, closed his eyes, and waved his hands back and forth in a panicked movement, "What? No! No-no-no-no-no! We're not a couple! We're just, um, you know, friends! Friends kiss all the time! Haven't you heard? C'mon, it's the newest trend! I hear it's all over countries like Shamar and Adabat! Anyway, I've, uh, gotta run! Nice seeing you, Amy, bye!"

Amy yelled, "Sonic, you get back here!" but Sonic had already dashed away.

And so the never-ending quest of Sonic the Hedgehog continues, and so it shall always continue. As opportunities for new adventures perpetually unfold, Sonic is constantly in motion, for he is in love with adventure, and his spirit is as free as the wind.


	30. Epilogue: Saturn's Legacy

Rouge was in the main office of the G.U.N. Commander in G.U.N. headquarters. Standing next to the Commander was Topaz, a G.U.N. agent who had once served as Rouge's partner. Rouge was enduring a harsh lecture from the Commander. "Let me get this straight. You failed to return either of the Chaos Emeralds that were stolen from the government's possession, and you have absolutely no idea where either of them might be located! Am I right?"

Rouge cringed. "Yes sir, that's correct."

Topaz felt sorry for Rouge, but she dared not speak out of turn. The Commander continued, "Therefore, not only are you not being paid for your assignment, you will pay money to the government as compensation for those new firearms you were assigned during this mission! Am I understood?"

Rouge cringed again. "Yes sir, I understand."

The Commander finalized, "Good! Now get the hell out of my damn office!" Rouge was looking down shamefully, but she managed a respectful nod before she left. The Commander sighed, "Ugh, good help is just so hard to find these days!"

Topaz reassured, "Don't worry, Sir. Rouge is a dependable agent. I'm sure she will locate and recover those Emeralds posthaste."

The Commander responded, "She'd better, or her job won't be the only thing she's losing." Topaz gulped as she knew that the Commander's subtle threat was genuine. A knock was heard at the door. The Commander wondered, "What's this? I don't have any other appointments scheduled, do I?"

Topaz responded, "No sir, Rouge's debriefing was your only appointment scheduled today."

The Commander grunted, annoyed, "Who's there? You'd better have a good reason for barging in like this unexpected!"

Shadow opened the door, and Omega was standing behind him. Topaz withheld a gasp, and the Commander's eyes widened. The ultimate life-form was juggling the blue, yellow, silver, cyan, red, and violet Chaos Emeralds in his right hand. "Sorry, Commander, I just thought you might want to have a look at these."

The Commander's expression quickly turned to a scowl. "Shadow, I should've known."

Shadow chuckled, "I understand you've been looking for a couple of Chaos Emeralds. Well, I'd be willing to give you all six of these if you were to provide me with the proper encouragement."

The Commander's scowl grew more intense. "I suppose you'd consider it an insult if I were to offer you something as meager as money."

Shadow gave another chuckle, "You're damn right I would." One after another, the black hero tossed the six Emeralds on the Commander's desk.

The Commander sighed unwillingly, "Alright, Shadow, what is it that you want?"

Shadow revealed a ragged, old journal, which was clearly authored on the cover by his creator, Prof. Gerald Robotnik. He placed the book on the Commander's desk. He gained a demonic smirk and said with Saturn's voice, "I want you to work on a little science project for me."


End file.
